Expectations
by Author1998
Summary: I've tried and tried to do what I know I should be able to do, but no matter how hard I try, I can't get good grades and I can't swim. Why does this matter, you might ask? Well, because I'm the son of the legendary Percy and Annabeth Jackson. Cover image belongs to Google
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue:**

_I've tried and tried to do what I know I should be able to do, but no matter how hard I try, I can't get good grades and I can't swim. Why does this matter, you might ask? Well, because I'm the son of the legendary Percy and Annabeth Jackson. Most people here call me Luke. Yeah, they decided to name their kid the same name of the famous Luke Castellon, as if I didn't already have too many expectations to live up to. I go to a mortal High School and live in a dorm there, and the only thing that relates me to the world of monsters and gods is my Mom and Dad… but maybe if I keep waiting, I'll get some awesome ability that no mortal could ever dream of having. That could happen… right?_

Most people might not think this is such a big deal. Sure, if you're just a normal mortal with normal parents, it doesn't matter at all. Unfortunately, I am NOT a normal mortal. I am supposed to be some huge success. The first-born son who was supposed to amaze everyone. Instead, I'm an embarrassment.

At least I have a best friend: Matthew Underwood. Matt and I have been friends since I was born, and they found out that I was practically a mortal, minus the Greek family tree. They introduced us and sent us both to private school to try to scout out demi-gods. At least, that's what they told us. I knew that Chiron just didn't want me near his precious Camp Half-Blood; everyone thought I would just get hurt.

I shook my head. Matt would never understand. He had all the goatliness of a satyr, smell included. I'm the only one in this place though who can actually tell what he is; that's the only un-mortally thing I have. So I can see monsters. Great. Not like it's going to get me far in a fight.

And if that wasn't enough, I had to have a younger sister who _does _have every ability of a demigod. Jade Jackson is an awesome combination of smarts, power… and _man_ can she swing a blade. Of course, she's not AS good at everything as Mom and Dad are, but I'm sure if she trains her skills enough, she'll get there. While she's out there killing monsters and saving the world, I'm struggling to maintain a straight D report card and keep mold off of my laundry.

Real exciting.

So I go to a mortal High School and live in a dorm there, and the only thing that relates me to the world of monsters and gods is my Mom and Dad… but maybe if I keep waiting, I'll get some awesome ability that no mortal could ever dream of having. That could happen… right?

The clock on the wall was the only thing making a sound in my classroom, besides the occasional sigh or cough. The teacher leaned over random desks, looking as menacing as he possibly could as he read our answers, determining whether we were doing well so far or if he should take the paper and throw it away now.

My forehead was beaded with nervous sweat. I _knew _these answers, but my mind was foggy. The tick of the clock was distracting me, and suddenly all I could focus on were the small movements of the room, like Brandon Foll's leg shaking or Willow Cree chewing on the end of her pencil. The words on the paper looked like a bunch of strange symbols, and I figured that either my teacher was playing a prank on us or I was just having trouble thinking straight. Based on previous experience, I'm guessing it's the latter.

"Time's up!" Mr. Gale announced happily, grinning widely when we all groaned. He really does enjoy our misery.

"Can I finish after school?" Willow asked as she reluctantly gave him her paper.

"Sure, but five o' clock is the deadline. If your tests aren't done by then, they're late. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," we all grumbled.

I grimaced when I looked down and realized I had only filled in one blank, and I don't think that he counts my name as a point. I would usually come in after school, but I can't today, because I have swimming lessons. Like that will go anywhere anyway.

The bell rings and Matt approaches. He sits three desks away. He used to sit right next to me, but then Mr. Gale thought he saw me cheating off of him, so he had to move.

"How do you think you did?" he asked as I collected my things and we both start out the door.

"Well, unless he's giving out free pity points, I'm dropping down to an F in Government," I reply, pushing past the people in the crowded hallway so I can make it to Matt and I's next class: Language and Composition Studies. Gross.

"What happened? You did awesome when you and I quizzed each other last…"

Matt's words faded when he saw a familiar looking brunette walk past us, hip swaying and hair flying behind her: none other than the popular—and-dangerous—Tracy White.

Tracy was elected Homecoming queen, but her crown only signifies her royalty over drama if you ask me. Her cherry-red lips are always spewing rumors and lies about other people, but her low cut shirts and her tiny shorts make it okay for most people. You can't catch her without a cake of makeup on her face and a cell-phone. If you do… well, make sure to tell me, because I'd love a picture of that.

"Hey, Luke," she smiles and flutters her eyelashes as she walks past.

"Don't do that, your eyelash extensions might fall off," I hear a voice next to me shoot at the girl.

I turn and find Dawn Fay Richard giving the cheerleader a mock smile. Dawn is the only mortal in this place that I consider a friend. She's known me for about as long as I've been here, which is a whopping 15 years. Her chocolate brown eyes are always warm and comforting, exempt from the times they are full of tears because of the people here who make fun of her. She loves dying her hair, which I never understood. In all honesty, I don't even know what the natural color is. Today, it was a blood red, with black tips.

"Cool hair," I noted as we continued to walk, all in a group.

"Thanks," she said, her cheeks going the same red.

"Are you ready for Lang?" I asked as we proceeded to class.

"Um, duh! It's my favorite class, remember? I finished that essay that's due today last month, though, so I'm turning in a different assignment."

Another thing about Dawn: I _swear_ she's a daughter of Athena. She excels in every kind of academic activity. She's even scared of spiders, although I've found out that a lot of girls are.

"Oh." Was there anything I could say?

"Why can't she love me…?" Matt finally said something. He was staring in the direction of where Tracy went. Dawn and I traded a look.

"Because she's already in love with hotness over here," she said bluntly, jutting a finger in my direction.

"Excuse me, but I am not 'hotness,'" I complained, feeling my face flush.

"Are you kidding me?" Dawn grumbled. "I can tell you _exactly_ what she's thinking. 'Oh my gosh, it's Luke Jackson, the cutest guy in school. I hope he likes what I'm wearing. I just love his curly blonde hair, and—oh my gosh—someday I'll get lost in those big sea-green eyes and…"

"_Okay_, I think we get it," Matt huffed, still looking for Tracy. "She'll never love me because she only goes for looks and, to put it delicately; I look like Hephaestus with hooves."

"Huh?" Dawn tilted her head, not catching the reference.

"Nothing," Matt and I quickly said. Sometimes we forget that Dawn is just a mortal. It's a pretty commonly made mistake with us, but we always manage to save ourselves.

We make it to Lang, but only halfway through the class, the loudspeakers crackle, and a woman's voice says "Luke Jackson, please come to the attendance office and sign out. We have a family member waiting for you in the parking lot."

Matt and Dawn give me weird looks, but I just shrug at them and get my things together, laughing inwardly at all the jealous glares I'm getting from my classmates. I leave with a bounce in my step. I don't even care who it is: I just got saved from an hour of syntax lecturing.

I follow instructions and sign out on the paper at the office, and then I walk into the sunlight. A jet black car was waiting for me right near the entrance. There were flames decorating the bottom, and skeletons were painted on the upper areas of the vehicle. I immediately knew who it was. A grin splitting my face, I ran to the passenger side and opened the door.

"Need a ride?" Uncle Nico smirked from the driver's side, tipping his sunglasses down so he could look me in the eye. He wasn't really my uncle, but I grew up calling him that.

"To where?"

Even as I asked, I was getting in. I would go anywhere if it meant skipping school.

"Camp Half-Blood."

This surprised me. I hadn't been there in years and years. Every holiday we had was at Leo's place, where he and Calypso had a massive warehouse that was cleared out and used for having feasts. I wondered if something bad had happened, but if that was true, then Uncle Nico wouldn't be smiling.

I shrugged and buckled my seat belt.

"You do remember what day it is, right?" Uncle Nico said as we drove.

Oh no, it was one of those trick questions. "Um, sure! Of course I remember!"

He gave me a look, his eyes momentarily leaving the road. "Oh really?"

"Yeah it's… Mom and Dad's anniversary?"

Uncle Nico laughed. "No, it's your sister's 16th birthday party! She wanted to have it at Camp so I'm here to take you!"

I groaned. "Why do _I _have to go? Why can't Jade just enjoy her party without me?"

"Luke, you know that your parents would never allow you to miss such an important day of your sister's life. Stop being so bitter. They sent you here to live a better life, so you wouldn't have to worry about monsters and being compared to the demi-gods with powers."

"I was two years old when they sent me away. I hardly remember a time when we were a family," I said angrily. "Why didn't they keep me?"

Nico didn't answer. He shifted the car and suddenly we were going so fast that my cheeks were flapping back. I wanted to throw up, but I was worried that if I did it would just go right back down.

"Shadow-travel machinery!" he yelled as everything grew dark around us. "Leo helped me design it!"

"Can I have one?" I shouted back as my eyeballs shook around in my skull like marbles.

"Only a child of Hades can operate one, sorry kid," Uncle Nico replied.

The darkness changed to an even deeper black, which didn't even seem possible. I heard strange noises and goosebumps appeared on my skin. Then, with a flash, we were on the beach. Only a couple minute's walk and I would see my parents.

I missed them horribly when I wasn't with them, although I never told anyone. I didn't understand why they had sent me off, although I always figured that it was to "keep my safe" from the…er… different training tactics here that required a more _durable _type of person. One game of capture the flag and I would be toast: possibly literally if the Hecate kids had learned any more new tricks since I last visited.

"I'm seventeen, I shouldn't have to go to a little girl's party," I whined some more, getting it all out before I see my parents. They don't tolerate complaining.

"She's only one year younger than you," Uncle Nico said knowingly. "Now… _race you to your cabin_!"

I laughed and started to run, but he had an advantage. He had started jogging ten feet ahead of me, and my run was more like his fast walk. I don't know how, but all the demi-gods I've met seem to have unnatural agilities. Well, not the Hypnos cabin. From what I can tell, they're too busy sleeping to try to exercise.

"Luke!" Mom was ready to great us right away. She pulled me into a huge hug, her blonde hair tickling my ear. "I missed you!"

"She never stops talking about you," Chiron said with a small smile. It looked like something was troubling him, though. All four of his hooves were tapping nervously, and his eyes kept flicking from my face to the ground.

"Where's dad?" I asked, pulling out of Mom's embrace and looking around. Usually we wrestled when I first got here. It was a chance for me to get some quality time with him… or, as he puts it, _pummeled by my old man_. I use the excuse that he's a legend and I'm a D straight student, then he raises his eyebrows and asks why I'm getting D's. Then Mom comes around and they both give me a talk about the importance of education. If I haven't mentioned this, I've done this a few times.

"He's… busy," Mom said. "threal question you should be asking is about your sister. Aren't you excited for her?"

"Yeah, aren't you excited for me?"

My sister waltzed up, smirking. It was odd, everything I got from Dad, she got from Mom, and vice versa. She had dark hair, gray eyes, and an attitude that could've rivalled Hera's. Sometimes I think that she might as well be goddess with how she acts... Not to mention her confidence.

"Oh yeah, happy birthday!" I say half-heartedly. We hug awkwardly after Mom gives us the stink eye, and then she runs off to go talk to her best friend, Vaz Rickie. She's a daughter of Hecate who put a charm on me once for making fun of Jade for wearing makeup.

I can never look at eyeliner the same again, and I've been a little more careful around Vaz.

"Don't forget to put my present on the present table!" Jade calls back as she leaves.

My stomach sinks. The present! I should've figured that I would need a present the second that Uncle Nico told me it was birthday party. I knew exactly what to do; get a Hermes kid to steal me something nice from the gift shop… maybe I could find a t-shirt that says "I'm with stupid" in her size.

"Luke! Aw, it's great to see my little buddy!" Aunt Thalia came up to squeeze me into a bear hug. That woman is like a python; she just squeezes and squeezes until your ribs collapse.

"Hi, Thalia," I say into her shirt. "Nice to see you."

**Tell me if I should continue… :3 I'm not sure about this one so make sure to be completely honest. Thanks guys! Sorry about the abrupt ending, I don't have any more time. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, sorry this took so long. I'm just going to skip all the long excuses and get to the point :P **

**Snowbird5000: **Thanks for your encouragement, I decided that I would continue it It'll be fun.

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**Guest: **:3 Thaaaanks. I'm trying to keep it up, I promise. I just am very slow and I have a lot of other stuff to do but… no excuses, right? ;) I hope you enjoy!

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**TO THE STORY, AWAAAAY….**

"How are you? Have you met a girl yet?" she ruffles my hair before letting me go. I nearly fall backwards, too busy trying to get oxygen into my lungs to worry about things like balance.

She asks me the same question every time I see her. "No, I haven't," I say. She should be used to this response.

"How can a guy with your looks not have a…."

She was interrupted by my mom. "Thalia, can you go, er, check on Percy? I need to have a talk with my son."

The woman walked away, giving me a wink as she left. And then she was gone. I turned to Mom, giving her a curious look.

"What do you mean, _check _on Dad?"

"Well, the defenses at Camp Half-Blood haven't been the best lately. Rachel gave us a prophesy… anyway, you don't need to know about that. It's being handled. Your father is patrolling right now."

"Why are the defenses down?"

She looked troubled. Her gray eyes flicked around, never meeting my gaze—not unlike Chiron, who had cantered off when Thalia and I were talking. He looked worried, too.

"We're not sure," Mom finally answered shortly. I could tell that made her mad: not knowing things almost always did. "Look, Luke, just… sit tight, okay? Don't go looking for your dad or anything stupid. You're not qualified."

"That's okay, Mom. Whatever. I know I'm not qualified, I'm _never _qualified for anything. Not even for being your son."

With that, I stormed away. If she wasn't going to tell me where Dad was, I was going to find him. Talking to him almost always made me forget that they had sent me away. He always made me feel like I _was _wanted. He was probably in the woods or something.

"Luke!" Vaz caught up to me. "Where are you going?"

I had no idea where she came from, but it didn't matter. "I'm going to find my dad."

"Percy? But… you can't… you'll get hurt!" she looked amazed at my daring. "Either you're really brave or really stupid, because there's no way that you can survive in those woods. There are monsters in there, Luke. Big monsters. I think it would be best if you just wait for him to come back."

By this time, I was fuming. "Why does everyone assume that I'm completely helpless?"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my pocketknife. Dad gave it to me for _my _sixteenth birthday.

"A mortal blade?" Vaz said skeptically. "That's not going to do anything."

I pressed a button on the side, and the knife shifted, turning into a different kind of metal that glinted in the sunlight. "I know what I'm doing."

She still didn't seem convinced. "You have no training. You're going to get yourself killed. What kind of birthday present would that be to Jade?"

"At least then I will have gotten her something," I mumbled.

Vaz didn't seem to have anything to say to that. I thought she was going to turn around and walk away, but she did the opposite. She picked up the pace and pulled out her sword, a beautiful two edged blade that was a little longer then my arm and made my knife look like a toothpick.

"If you're going in, then it's my duty to keep you safe," she said.

I didn't understand why she was suddenly acting so nice to me; Vaz had always made it her personal responsibility to make me feel uncomfortable and out of place, especially when I was with her and Jade. Now, though, she was acting almost like we were friends. After that whole charming incident, we were far from it.

"Whatever," I shrugged, knowing I couldn't stop her. What was I going to do to change her mind? She was wielding a sword and had a crazy look in her eyes. It's never a good idea to mess with a determined demi god.

"Why are you so desperate to find him anyway?" Vaz asked, dropping her voice to a whisper as we entered the woods. She stepped on a twig and cursed silently when the sound seemed to echo back at us.

"I just want to see him," I snap. "Is that illegal? He's still my dad, isn't he?"

She raised her hands in surrender, momentarily pointing her sword at the sky. "Woah, calm down. I just asked a question… trying to pass the time here…"

"I appreciate the gesture," I replied slowly, "but maybe I just want to be left alone."

Thankfully, she quieted down after that. I wondered what Matthew was up to, and what color Dawn would be dyeing her hair tonight. I thought about how angry my swimming instructor probably would be at me next week, seeing as I was basically ditching him at this point. Not like I wanted to, I would rather be half-drowning like I do every Wednesday than be here, at perfect little Jade's birthday party.

"Sh," Vaz said abruptly, snapping me out of my thoughts and automatically putting me on the alert. I glanced around, but from what I could see everything was fine.

"You're crazy," I exclaimed loudly. "There's nothing going…"

"Move!" she screamed suddenly, pushing me.

An arrow flew past where my head had once been. I instinctively fell flat, pulling Vaz down with me. She was pointing her sword in all directions, obviously looking for the archer who had shot at me. Another couple of arrows whizzed past above our heads, and I squeezed my eyes tightly shut as if the action would protect me.

"Crawl, you idiot," the _charming_ girl beside me hissed. "We're being targeted."

No duh, I wanted to say, but I did was I was told and started to move army-style, getting dirt and grime all over my t-shirt. That was okay; keeping my clothes clean was not exactly the main priority when someone was trying to kill us.

"What kind of monster knows how to shoot a bow and arrow?" I whispered as we moved. "I thought they were all supposed to be 'roar, I'm going to attack you' and then it makes it easy to just slice 'em and dice 'em."

"Do you ever listen to yourself when you talk? Seriously, what kind of person says that kind of thing while they're being shot at?"

"The kind of person who is very offended by the lack of tradition our attacker is showing. The monster attacks head on stupidly. We kill it. It's the demi-god/monster relationship I feel I deserve as a rookie."

"Well I'm sorry that we got a hard monster. Suck it up and keep crawling."

"I am!"

The next few minutes were spent going back and forth and trying to stay alive. Strangely enough, I felt exhilarated. So _this _is what it would be like to be a real demi-god: being attacked, fighting for your life… It was like a really cool sci-fi action movie. Until…

"Uhhhh!" Vaz groaned from beside me, her eyes suddenly going strangely wide. I glanced to my left and almost passed out. An arrow was lodged deep in the back of her shoulder blade, sticking straight up like a sick candle on my stupid sister's cake. Why am I thinking about this right now?

"Are you okay?" I asked automatically. Okay, now _that _was a stupid question.

"I'm fine," Jade's friend grunted, coming to a stop. "Just peachy. Help me pull this thing out!"

She reached her hand backwards as if she could reach it, but I knew she couldn't. A small patch of blood was starting to stain through her white blouse.

"I don't think you're supposed to pull it out like that," I said, trying not to throw up at the sight of the injury. "We should get you to a doctor."

"You're right. We should get to a doctor. Now where in the name of Hades do you think we are going to find a hospital in the middle of the freaking forest?" she snapped at me.

"Your sarcasm is refreshing," I muttered.

"But your stupidity isn't."

Our argument was cut short when another arrow seemed to spring from the ground right next to Vaz's leg. We needed to move. The problem was, I didn't know how we were supposed to get her moving without hurting her. Whoever was attacking us was closing in, and I couldn't afford to let Vaz get any more hurt than she already was. From what I could tell, the arrow hadn't gone anywhere near her heart luckily, but she was still in danger of a lot of other stuff that could prove fatal.

"Luke?" I could hear Chiron calling from somewhere to my right. Thank the gods.

"We're over here!" I yelled, rolling as I did so. Four arrows hit the dirt where I had been only seconds ago. At least I had good instincts.

"Hey stupid, it's kind of painful when you get shot with an arrow. I think I'm passing out," Vaz's eyes were fluttering shut even as she said it. "Don't let me die, please and thank you."

"Luke!" there was Chiron again. I felt pulled in different directions. I could yell again, but it seemed like too much of a risk. Then again, if he didn't find us soon, we were definitely doomed.

Vaz's eyes closed. I looked around frantically for something to use… anything that might be helpful. There was a couple of twigs to my left, but they weren't going to be of any use. I saw Vaz's sword sticking awkwardly out of its sheath. Making a quick decision, I grabbed it and stood, swaying to and fro in an attempt to prove a harder target.

"Leave us alone!" I shouted, raising my arm so the sunlight glinted off the blade. From there everything happened in slow motion.

I saw Chiron galloping into the scene, waving his arm and yelling at me to get down. I felt a sudden biting pain in my arm, and when I looked up, I saw three different arrows all sticking out of the flesh right below my elbow, and I realized I was about to black out just seconds before it happened.

**Isn't he an idiot? ;) I promise to get another update up faster than I did last time, but for now let me know if you liked the chapter. THANKS GUYS! :D **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I know, really fast update! :D I was really excited to continue this story and I'm going to prove it to you guys. Thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews, it always makes me smile. **

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**StephLopez: Thanks! I do my best to be original so I'm glad that you think it's interesting. :D I hope you like this chapter. **

"Luke! Wake up! Gods, you just had to make today about you."

My eyes opened slowly, and everything came into focus after a couple of blinks. My sister was looming over me, fists clenched.

"..uh?" was all I could manage. Why couldn't I move my arms or legs?

"Today is _my _birthday. It's _my _friend that you got shot in the back, and it's…."

I interrupted her. "Jade, where's Mom and Dad."

She faltered. "Um, Chiron said not to say anything. You're supposed to be resting. Bye!"

And with that she left in a hurry. I laid back, trying to move. I couldn't feel any part of my body whatsoever.

"Good morning stupid," a voice grumbled from somewhere to my right. I managed to turn my head and saw that Vaz was in a bed right next to mine, her face screwed up in a grimace.

"I didn't get you killed!" I managed.

She stopped herself from smiling. "Good job. In the process, you also got yourself stuck by three arrows."

Oh yeah. I had nearly forgotten about that...

"Luke? Are you awake?" Chiron entered the room before I could respond to Vaz. He was in wheelchair form, which I appreciated. I always felt less intimidated by him when he wasn't towering over me,

"No," I said, wincing as some of the feeling was coming back into my body. "I'm really good at having a conversation when I'm sleeping."

"This is no time to joke around," he said, looking serious. "Percy and Annabeth are gone."

"What?!" I made a sudden movement in an attempt to get up. Pain sliced through my whole body, radiating from my arm. I fell back onto my pillow and tried not to throw up.

"Don't get too worked up. We really shouldn't have given you any ambrosia. Ah, as I was saying, your parents and Thalia have disappeared. About the time you went to look for Percy, I did as well. There were signs of a struggle where he was supposed to be patrolling, and the only thing there was...this," Chiron held up a Camp-Half Blood necklace. It was completely packed with beads from all of Dad's years here. Suddenly I had a huge lump in my throat.

"What happend to Annabeth?" Vaz asked from beside me, voice wavering. I knew what she was thinking: what could possibly get the best of Percy Jackson, the hero of Olympus and the person who saved the world about a million times?

"She went looking for Luke and never came back. We have a search party out, but I'm sorry to say that it is doubtful they will find her. I know Annabeth: she would have come back by now if something hadn't happened. It's the same story with Thalia."

"Do you think they're… alive?" I managed, choking on the words. If I hadn't been stupid and acted rashly, everyone would be eating birthday cake and laughing together.

"Of course they're alive," the centaur comforted me, but I could tell that his smile was forced. "Those three have survived much worse than a little kidnapping."

"So you think they were kidnapped?"

Chiron pressed his lips together and furrowed his eyebrows. It was obvious he hadn't wanted to voice his theory. "It is too early to tell," was all he would say. "You should get some rest. That arrow wound was really bad. The same goes for you, Miss Rickie."

Vaz groaned. "Oh, come on! I can't sleep now! What kind of bedtime story is that?"

I didn't speak. Instead, I made another effort to get up, this time ignoring the pain that shot through my body at the slightest movement of my arm. My feet hit the floor and I pushed my way past Chiron, biting my tongue when a yell of pain threatened to come out. Almost on cue, a scream came from outside the Big House.

Quickening my pace, I left the little recovery area and made it into the sunshine, where I stopped for a breather and looked for the source of the scream. The centaur was right behind me, transformed into his full half-horse, half-man state. He took an arrow out and latched it onto his bow's string, also trying to find out where the scream had come from.

It didn't take long to see the smoke. It was completely black, and looked thick enough to suffocate a person. Forgetting my arm for a moment, I started running. The fire was coming from the Hephaestus cabin. The burly mechanics were running around, getting water and yelling for help. I gaped, the flames were huge.

"Someone get Percy!" a girl from the Hecate cabin was screaming, waving her hands and running around in circles. My heart clenched even at the name.

"Make sure there are no dryads around," Chiron said loudly and calmly, returning his bow to his back. "Begin forming a line to the river!"

But even I could tell it was too late. The fire was consuming the cabin too fast; it was acting like a monster in itself, licking it's lips as it devoured the last bit of wood. Standing in the middle of the rubble was none other than Leo Valdez. I suppressed a laugh at the look on his face.

"It wasn't me?" he tried sheepishly, patting out a stray flame in his hair.

"Valdez, what happened?" Chiron asked grimly. I could tell he was trying not to get angry.

"It was my fault," another Hephaestus kid said, ducking his head and stepping forward. "I told him the news about Percy when he was...unprepared."

"Dude, you woke me up in the middle of the nap and told me one of my closest friends is in danger," Leo complained. "How did you think I was going to react?"

The kid blushed and ran off.

"I think you've scared him," Chiron noted, but I saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

"He'll get over it," Leo waved his hand, stepping towards us and then looking at me like he hadn't noticed me before. "Oh, Luke. Hi! I didn't know you knew…"

"…your sister's birthday was today," the centaur finished, giving the tinker a warning look that I caught easily.

"Oh, er, yeah. That. Um, Luke? You realize that you're swaying, right?"

I did, but I couldn't do anything about it. The pain from my arm had suddenly hit me full on. The world spun and suddenly I couldn't tell the difference from the sky and the grass below me.

Leo took two long steps and caught me. It took me a couple seconds before I realized that I had been falling.

"We'd better get him to an Apollo kid," he said. "What happened?"

"He got hit with a couple arrows in the arm. We haven't figured out exactly who or what was shooting at him and Vaz, but whatever it was managed to stick them both."

"Vaz is hurt?" Leo faltered, and I knew why. He always acted like Vaz was his own daughter, since she got abandoned by her father when she was little. Even though he hadn't personally raised her, they had formed a really special bond that everyone in the camp recognized.

"She'll be fine, Luke here… we had to give him some ambrosia and it didn't sit well with him. He won't be perfectly fine for at least a couple of weeks. He's lucky he has demi-god genes in him; there could've been serious consequences."

"What? Like getting my parents kidnapped?" the pain had cleared up enough for me to focus my vision and talk. The ache from my arm was nothing to the one in my heart. "Like getting Jade's best friend shot in the back and ruining my sister's sixteenth birthday party? Gee, I'm sure glad we avoided that."

I tried to remove myself from Leo's grip, but he had gotten a lot stronger. Instead of the really weak, skinny looking boy he was in all of Mom and Dad's old photographs, he had bulked up a lot, even though he remained his wiry, lanky self. I hoped that would happen to me someday.

"You need to rest," the son of Hephaestus said firmly. "And take a chill pill. None of this is your fault?"

"Oh really?" my vision was going red, but whether it was from pain or anger I couldn't tell. "Tell me, would all of that had happened if I had just stayed in camp?"

Neither him or Chiron seemed to have an answer for that. This time I was able to tug myself from Leo's grasp and leave, getting a little shock when I jolted my arm. I was tired of everyone acting like I wasn't to blame, because it was completely obvious that it was. I just needed to find Mom and Dad. Then everything would be okay again…

I made it back to the Poseidon cabin without any problems. I shoved a couple of Dad's shirts and some other necessities into a bag and started towards the Big House. I could probably sneak out some provisions no problem. Before I could make it that far, I was stopped by none other than Jade.

"You're out of bed already?" she snapped, obviously still angry.

"Leave me alone," I muttered, trying to move around her. Looking at her green eyes made my eyes mist up at the corners… oh Dad, I'm sorry…

"No! And what in Hades do you think you're doing?" she asked, seeing the bag. "Are you going off on another thoughtless journey? Come on, Luke, look at what happened last time!"

"Leave me alone!" Maybe if I just said the same thing over and over, she would actually listen to me for once in her life. I got past her and started to walk away.

"Think: what would Mom and Dad do?" she yelled at my back.

"Judging from all the stories I've heard, the exact same thing," I said under my breath and continued to the Big House. When I got to where the provisions were kept, I found a strange sight. Shoving packages of bread and ham into a backpack of her own was none other than Vaz. She dropped the pack when she saw me.

"Look, it's not what it looks like…" she started.

"Calm down, I'm here for the same thing," I interrupted, going down to the steps.

"You're going to go after Percy and Annabeth?" Why did she sound so surprised?  
"You mean, Mom and Dad? Duh. The question is: why are _you _going after them?"

She did the last thing I thought she would: Vaz Rickie actually started crying. And not just little tears, but wracking sobs that made me feel actually sorry for her.

"It's all my fault," she managed, wiping boogers all over her sweater. "I should have just stopped you."

I couldn't help but gape at her. "How can you say that? I'm the one to blame; _I'm _the one who went into the stupid woods stupidly. Ergo your nickname for me: stupid."

Vaz cocked her head, sniffles subsiding. "You are pretty stupid, aren't you," she said slowly, but with a smile.

That sounded like an insult, but her smile was contagious. "Yeah, I guess," I said, grinning.

The next few minutes were spent in silence as we both stocked up on food. I packed as much as I could possibly carry, but I knew that I would probably have to restock. Hopefully, I'll manage to figure it out as I go, like all the demi-god's in Mom and Dad's stories, including them.

"So, I guess we're off on a quest and we might not return alive," Vaz mused as she threw a container of peanut-butter in her bag. "How are you feeling?"

"What do you mean _we_?" I argued. "I'm doing this alone."

"You barely survived three minutes in the woods, do you seriously think I'm going to let you go alone on a quest? No, no, no. I owe it to Jade to get her parents back, and I don't think she would cope well with you dying."

"Like she would care," I muttered, but I don't think she heard me. Nevertheless, I let Vaz follow me when I left the building. It seemed odd that even though it was obvious I was about to leave, no one was stopping me. A small team of campers had started rebuilding the Hephaestus cabin, and others wandered here and there, all of them doing something or other and none of them meeting my eyes or even looking my way.

"Do you notice… something strange?" Vaz was looking just as uneasy as I felt.

"You mean besides the fact that it's like we're invisible? Nope. Everything is just normal."

It got even weirder when I tried to say hi to Leo, who was passing by. My greeting was met by him completely ignoring me… and then walking right through me.

"Okay, definitely something strange," I said. Judging how wide Vaz's eyes were, she had seen what had just happened.

_Go, _a woman's voice suddenly said in my head. _I am watching you my child. _

"What. Was. That." I was completely freaked out by now.

"That was my Mom," Vaz said in awe. "She's given us her blessing. I think that's what's going on here."

"Well, as long as we have her blessing," I scoffed. It startled me when I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

"A god's blessing is serious, Luke," Vaz's eyes pierced my own. "It's a sign."

"I hope it means we'll win," I said, adjusting the strap on my bag so it wasn't putting too much pressure on my bad shoulder. I had grabbed an entire case of ambrosia, but I wasn't planning on using it. It just comforted me to know that I had an emergency back-up plan… just in case.

"Me too, stupid."

And with that, we were on our way.

**Soooooo, what do you guys think of Vaz? She's a charmer ;) Let me know what you guys think pweeezzzzzzzz *puppy dog face* I don't care if it's a one worded review or a paragraph, to hear your feedback really improves the fanfiction. I hope that I'm not making anyone OOC, but if I am let me know, okay? I can't stand it when people don't portray the characters right, and I'm sure you guys feel the same way :P ANYHOW the next chapter might not come as soon as this one did, but who knows… your reviews always boost my inspiration *cough*hint*cough*hint*cough* ;D Thanks everyone! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this took so long. Shout out to StephLopez for being the only reviewer. YOU ARE AWESOME! **

**StephLopez: Probably :P I can't give you an answer more definite than that so I hope it's enough :3. **

It took us a total of five minutes to realize that we had no plan and nowhere to start. l had tucked Dad's necklace in my pocket; it's presence was the only thing that kept me going. He would have had at least some kind of plan though, right?

"Where are we even going?" Vaz sounded exasperated. We hadn't been walking long, and I had already seen her cringe at least five times. Her back must have been hurting. To be honest, my shoulder wasn't feeling to hot either.

"We're going...somewhere," I replied. The beach seemed endless, and who knew how much farther we had to go. She glared at me.

"Look, I know you're trying to be like your parents, but for your information they usually at least had a prophecy to use as a starting point. We are literally just setting off in a random direction. Maybe we should get help from..."

"From who?" I asked, turning to look at her only to find that she had stopped five feet back and was staring at something in the sand, a stupid look on her face. "What?"

"Look..." she bent to pick up a bow that I hadn't seen. It looked like it was made of shadows. When she touched it, she cursed loudly and pulled her hand back. "It burnt me"

"What is that?" I wondered aloud, getting closer to it. It seemed to draw me in.

"Luke, stay back," Vaz took out her sword. "I'm getting rid of this thing."

She brought the blade down, but neither of us were expecting what happened next. As soon as the metal touched the shadow-y wood, a screech rang out. I clamped my hands to my ears, jarring my arm and making me gasp involuntarily. When I looked down at the bow, it was completely intact. A jagged line of black ran through Vaz's weapon in a lightning bolt shape; we both stared.

"That does it. I'm picking it up."

"Are you crazy?" the daughter of Hecate hissed. "It just damaged perfect celestial bronze."

I shrugged. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." My swimming teacher said that a lot. I cast any thoughts of getting burnt aside and bent. When my hand touched the bow, there was nothing. I picked it up completely—it was like it weight nothing. The shadows on it retreated away from my hand to reveal black wood underneath. There was something written in Greek, but I couldn't decipher it.

"Read this," I shoved the bow at Vaz, who recoiled.

"I'm not getting near that thing again, and I don't think you should either. Let's just put it down and continue on our way."

"This could be the bow of whatever was shooting at us," I insisted. The expression on her face told me that she hadn't considered that. "Please, it could be a clue."

"Oh, alright, but don't let it touch me," she huffed. When she bent over, her brows furrowed. "All it says is: 'never the prey,' and I have no idea how that will help us. That could point to monsters, demi gods, Hunters…"

"Hunters?" I looked back in the direction of Camp Half-Blood. "That might lead us somewhere."

"No, that's too obvious. Honestly, this shadow stuff looks like something that would connect to Hades."

"You want us to go all the way down to the Underworld and ask the Lord of the Dead about a bow we found on the beach? No way, you're crazy."

"I'm sorry, oh mighty Quest master. Please, do tell where we should go then." I swear, if this girl was any more sarcastic…

"I think…"

I was interrupted by the bow. It yanked at my hand, dragging me a couple of feet.

"What are you doing?" Vaz scolded. "Stop messing around."

"I'm not doing anything!" I call back at her. The bow is speeding up, and I dig my feet in the sand in an attempt to stop. I could let it go, but this was our only lead.

Vaz ran to catch up with me and grabbed me around the waist, pulling me back. With our strength combined, the bow was forced to stop. It was still pulling at my arm, but I gritted my teeth and didn't let it move me.

"What's happening?" the girl behind me sounded incredulous.

I had a theory. "Well, I think it's like Percy's sword. You know, how it always returns to him? Maybe the bow is trying to go back to its master."

"Percy's sword is magic," Vaz argued. "It doesn't physically return, it just appears back in his pocket."

"I didn't say it _was _Percy's sword, I said it was _like _Percy's sword," I replied, almost falling forward with a particularly hard yank coming from the bow.

"If you're right, that's brilliant. If you're wrong, we will be following around an inanimate object uselessly running around in circles until we die of hunger. Does that sound like a good thing to you?"

"It's a good thing if I'm right, and I am, so let's go. Besides, you want to go to the Underworld, right? If we die of hunger, we'll be there!"

She didn't seem to like that idea at all, but she let go of me and let the bow pull me forward. My pack was getting increasingly heavy, and my bad arm was killing me, but I didn't let it show. I wondered how she was holding up.

"What are we going to do when we do find this archer?" I asked as we half jogged, half walked. Vaz didn't seem in the mood to talk, but she gave in after a couple minutes of silence.

"It's probably a monster, and monsters need to be killed. I can take care of that."

"Are you saying that I couldn't kill the monster?"

"I'm saying that judging on how you handed the last attack, you wouldn't last two seconds."

"I resent that."

"You _represent _that."

I glared at her. I could see why my sister would like being friends with Vaz, but she was a little mouthy for my taste. I missed Matthew and Dawn… hopefully I would go back 'home' soon and life would return to being boring. If being a demi god meant constantly losing people you love, I didn't want any part of it.

"Stop." Vaz whispered after a couple more minutes. We were past the beach now, along the road where Dad had first come to Camp Half Blood with a Minotaur on his heels. I had heard the story a thousand times, but it never got old. There was the forest on our right, and when I looked hard, I saw something move.

Together we were able to haul the bow with us as we took cover behind a tree. I did not expect to see what we saw next.

The person before us was a teenage girl. She had really curly black hair and appeared to be a little taller than Vaz but at least three inches shorter than me. I couldn't tell her age, but it was given that she was starving. Her clothes hung loosely on her body and there was no color in her cheeks. She was poking at a fire, grumbling something. A quiver of arrows was splayed on the ground a couple feet away, obviously tossed there. There was no bow in sight.

Vaz and I looked at each other and nodded. Making little to no sound, we both took out our weapons and set our packs as gently on the ground as we could. I put the bow in my backpack and tied the pack to the tree, hoping it would contain the weapon. "On the count of three," I mouthed.

1..2..3..

"Aha!" we jumped out from behind the tree and ran at the girl. She tried to run, but we had caught her by surprise. It only took a couple of seconds before I had her arms behind her back and Vaz had her sword up to the stranger's throat.

"Why were you shooting at us?" Vaz growled. She looked pretty fierce; the firelight glinting in her eyes. It was dusk, and the trees cast menacing shadows all around us.

"I…shooting…what?" the girl spluttered. She didn't seem too phased that a blade was two inches from ending her life. "I would never shoot at a demi god! What do you take me for?"

"How do you know she's a demi god?" I asked.

"You can just tell. Celestial bronze. Bad attitude. It's all just typical." Whoever this was, she was _not _getting on Vaz's good side. "Either way, I didn't shoot at you guys."

"Oh really?" my companion didn't seem convinced, and I didn't blame her. "We have your bow, and it led us straight to you."

"I have a full quiver of arrows, and I don't know whose bow you have, but it's not mine. My bow is right over there," the girl gestured as best she could with her head towards where she had been sitting before. There, unseen by Vaz or I at first, was a shabby looking bow that was painted some kind of greenish color.

I released her. The story checked out to me, and Vaz apparently agreed. She put her sword away, albeit reluctantly. "So what are you, a daughter of Ares?"

"Ha! No, I'm Faith. I'm not exactly a demi god; my father was a son of Apollo. My mom's a mortal, though. She died when I was little," the girl's expression didn't change. "Mom wanted to go to Camp Half Blood and train like my Dad did so she could protect me. On the way there, she was attacked by a couple of Furies, and that was the end of that. Dad was never the same… either way, you don't need to know any of this. I was just minding my own business before you attacked me."

"Sorry about that," I said sheepishly. "Let me give you some rations."

Faith seemed a lot more friendly at the aspect of getting food. "It's the least you can do."

I went to get my backpack and was happy to find the bow had not ripped it from the tree. It was still tugging and pulling when I untied it, and it took a little more effort than I liked to get back to the fire where Vaz and Faith were. I opened the pocket just enough to grab a package of ham before retying the backpack to a different tree right behind me.

"Here," I said, throwing it to Faith. She caught it with ease.

"So what are you guys doing out here anyway?" she asked, helping herself to a slice. I wasn't sure if she was swallowing; it was clear she hadn't eaten in at least a day.

I didn't think that Faith was much of a threat, and so I ignored Vaz's warning glares and told her the story. I left out some of the details, and the fact that I wasn't a demi god; I just told the story like we were rescuing Percy and Annabeth, not my parents. When Faith finally looked up and into my eyes, I gasped. Her eyes were… purple.

"Don't worry, they're just contacts," she laughed at my expression.

Vaz appeared disgusted. "You put stuff in your eyes to change their color? Isn't that a little… superficial?"

Ouch. Something about Faith's expression shifted slightly before it returned to neutral. "I can see why you would think I was the archer, but since your little bow is still pulling you in a direction, shouldn't that make it obvious it's not me?"

I thought about that. It made so much sense; I was kind of embarrassed that neither Vaz nor I had thought of it.

"I guess," I said.

"So who are your guys' parents? Did you grow up in Camp Half Blood?"

"My Mom is Hecate and my dad… he doesn't matter," Vaz shrugged. "Camp Half Blood is the only home that really means anything to me." I looked away but Faith's gaze didn't waver. She turned her purple eyes on me and I knew that it was time for the truth.

"My parents are Percy and Annabeth Jackson," I sighed. "I grew up far away in a mortal high school so I wouldn't get hurt."

"High five!" Faith startled me by putting up her hand. "Screw all of the godly kids, us grandkids rule."

"Hey!" Vaz protested, but I laughed and gave the girl a high five. I liked how I finally knew someone who was like me… kind of.

"Do you mind if we crash here for the night?" I found myself asking. Vaz punched me in the thigh not-so-discretely but Faith just shrugged.

"If you want to. I don't have much for comfort."

"The fire is good enough," I replied. In the silence it became all too clear how much my arm was hurting me. I cringed as a particularly sharp wave of pain crashed through my body. When I looked at Vaz, she seemed to be going through the same thing.

"Oh yeah, you guys got shot by arrows and all of that." Faith got up and went to my backpack. She rummaged around before finding the package of ambrosia. "You'll probably need some of this."

I nodded and gestured for her to hand some to Vaz first. The daughter of Hecate smiled as she chewed softly on some.

"Should you…" Faith seemed hesitant with me. I shook my head up and down enthusiastically, knowing that I could take it in small portions. I nibbled on the end and tasted the chocolate cake that Mom made me the last birthday I had before I was sent off. In all honesty, that was so far away that I shouldn't be able to remember it, but there it was. I wanted to eat the whole square of ambrosia just so I could keep the warmth alive, but Faith snatched it from me after the fifth bite.

"You want to heal, not to combust," she scolded me, throwing the square off somewhere into the distance. I wondered what would happen if a bird tried to eat it or something.

"I know," I said wistfully, staring off into where the ambrosia had gone. "I know."

"We should probably sleep," Vaz said from the forest floor. I glanced over to see she had made a bed of leaves and who knew what else. "Goodnight, stupid."

It didn't take long for her breathing to deepen, but Faith and I stayed awake. We were lying next to each other with our heads propped on a log, staring up at the stars. It was cold, but the fire helped warm the area slightly.

"So I feel like there's something more to this quest than just saving Mommy and Daddy," Faith said in the silence.

I thought for a moment. "I guess you're right. I think that I'm hoping that by saving them, I'll finally prove that I'm not helpless. Just because I'm not the son of a god doesn't mean that I should have to be sent off, you know? I think I'm just hoping to finally get to stay at Camp Half Blood with my family. If we succeed, I think I'll finally be allowed to stay."

Faith was quiet for a minute before lifting her hand to trace a shape in the stars. "Each constellation is made up of different stars, but their only there because someone one day told others that they saw a shape. I believe that people can't tell you what to see, you have to see it yourself. If you look close you can see us, right now, laying right here talking about it. Do you see it?"

And I looked where her hand was and I saw she was right. "I see it," I said. "I see it…" and then I was asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey. Yeah, I know. It took me WAY too long to update this… and I'm sorry :/ I'll speed this little note up so you can get straight to the update. Thanks you guys for the favs/follows/reviews. They honestly make my day every time : ) **

**Guest: Aw, thanks for saying it's 'fabulous.' X3 I hope this chapter is too.**

**Guest: LOL That's awesome… I promise I'm not stalking you around and making you into my own character. I swear on the Styx! ;) I'm guessing you like her character the best… :D **

I don't know why, but I didn't expect to see Faith in the morning when we woke up. That's probably why I yelled when I woke up with her snuggled against me like I was some kind of teddy bear.

"Aah!" she woke up when I screamed and started kicking and punching. By some miracle, I managed to squirm away before she could seriously damage my arm. The ambrosia had seemed to have completely healed it though; I could move it with ease.

Vaz was also awakened by the sound. She didn't seem too fazed by it, however, and just opened one eye to glare at me before closing it again. "Shut up stupid, I'm tired."

I rolled my eyes and sat up. The sun was just barely coming up, sending weak rays of light through the treetops. It was cold; I had already started shivering. The coals from the fire were like ice; it had been out for some time.

"I'll get a new one going," Faith said as if she could read my mind. She gave me a look and I could tell that she was just as embarrassed about the sleep-snuggling as I was. Thank the gods, I did _not _want to talk about that.

"What time do you think it is?" I yawned and stretched my arms out before getting to my feet. "Vaz and I should probably be heading out soon. We have no idea how long it's going to take to get to catch the archer; they might not have taken as long of a rest as we did."

"Could you guys just be quiet?" Vaz groaned from her position by the log. "I don't want to wake up!"

"Too bad, Rickie," I walked over and gave her a little nudge with my foot. "We need to be ready to go in twenty minutes. That means fed, watered, and cleaned up."

"Yes, Mom," she said. Sheesh, someone was snarky in the mornings.

Faith seemed like she wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure. She kept looking at me and then looking down.

"What's up?" I prodded.

"Do you think you could…um… share some rations with me for breakfast?" It looked like she had to force the words out of her mouth.

"Of course!" I was shocked that she had even considered otherwise. "We weren't just going to eat in front of you."

"Well…"

"Vaz!"

"What?"

"Shh," Faith suddenly ran to her bow and knocked an arrow. "I think I heard something."

Naturally, this was a good time for a monster attack.

Two giants broke through the trees like enormous bulldozers. They were running full speed towards us; it would only be a couple of seconds before we were giant chow.

"Ya!" Faith said, making them both look at her. One of them got an arrow in their eye, the other was confused just long enough for Vaz to spring into action. She leaped up, grabbed her sword, and darted behind the giant. I stupidly stood there, gaping.

"Hey! Over here!" I finally yelled. Great, they're looking at you. Now what, Jackson?

"Argh!" The one with both eyes had a terrible look on his face as he came right at me while Faith pelted the other one with arrows. The smell washed over me as he drew nearer, and I had to use one hand to plug my nose as I tried to dodge, but I was off balance with my hand up, and I tripped over my long pant leg and fell to the ground. So this was the end.

He was one step away from flattening me like a pancake when a funny expression crept onto his face. He reached back as if he had an itch to scratch, and then suddenly collapsed, his ugly head only three inches from my foot.

Vaz pulled her sword out of his back and gave me a look of disgust before turning to help Faith. She had managed to bring the giant to his knees; he looked like a pin cushion with all of the arrows sticking in him. Somehow, he was still alive, and it looked like she was in trouble.

"Look out!" I yelled when he smashed his fist right where she had been a millisecond ago. Good thing she was fast.

"Get out of the way!" Faith screeched at Vaz as she was approaching. "Go!"

The daughter of Hecate seemed to understand, and did this awesome combat roll away from the monster as Faith attached a strange looking sphere to another arrow and shot it at the giant's feet. He laughed when it didn't hit him, but he wasn't laughing a second later when it exploded. That was the end of that.

Both girls were breathing hard, and I was just sitting there like some kind of idiot. The reality sunk in of how useful—more like how NOT useful—I had been to them both. Vaz had saved my life…

"It's getting worse; I thought I would be safer closer to Camp Half-Blood but something's been up lately. The attacks are getting more and more frequent." Faith sounded completely calm as she put her bow down.

"How long has that been happening?" Vaz asked, also sounding unshaken, although she was still panting slightly. It hit me that these two girls had dealt with occurrences like this one their whole lives.

"About a month, ever since that Dare girl left. I've only heard rumors, but apparently there was this really huge fight with Chiron and her while she was in her oracle state or something. He actually tried to get the Spirit of Delphi to leave her and stop making terrible prophesies. Yeah, it was that bad. I'm not sure of the details though…"

"I remember that," Vaz said thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side. "The whole camp heard Delphi's screeching. Rachel is _not _happy with Chiron at all. She told him that he needed to face the prophesy or see Camp Half-Blood destroyed. No one talks about it."

"Maybe that has to do with Percy and Annabeth's disappearance," Faith shrugged. "Either way, I don't care. Camp Half-Blood has never been my home."

"Why not?" I finally spoke, trying to keep my voice casual. I was still shaking from the giant attack, but I managed not to sound like a scared child. Somehow.

Faith looked away. "Dad…. curse….I don't talk about it."

I felt suddenly really sorry for her. "A curse? Is there any way to get rid of it?"

She wouldn't meet my eye. "I don't talk about it."

Vaz broke the awkward silence that followed. "_Anyway_, let's get that breakfast and then we can head out. Luke? You're on cooking duty."

I groaned, but I didn't whine too much; she had actually used my name, after all. The backpack was, thank the gods, still tied to the tree. I could tell the straps were getting worn out, though. Inside, the bow was still pulling and tugging; I managed to get out some bread, cheese, and jam without letting it escape.

I used my knife for cutting the cheese, feeling ridiculous doing it because I realized that was all I had used it for despite being attacked _twice_ now. The breed was already split into four separate loaves, and I gave two to Faith. Vaz gave me a dirty look but I didn't care. This chick was starving to death; I figure we could spare some food.

While Vaz and I spread jam on our bread, Faith just ate it plain, seemingly relishing in the flavor. She only finished half of one loaf, and then stuffed the rest in a small pack that I hadn't seen before. With a strange smile, she swung it onto her back and stood up. "Well, I'll be heading out."

"Wait!" I had a weird feeling suddenly in the pit of my stomach. "Just one more thing!"

"Yes?"

I thought hard to remember the exact wording. "There was a phrase on the bow; something neither Vaz nor I could figure out. It said 'never the prey.' Have you ever heard of anything like that?"

Faith's pack slipped to the ground and she took four large strides towards me. With one fluent move, she had whipped an arrow out of her sheath and held the point against my neck. "Who are you," she hissed. The blade scraped my Adams apple; it was so close that I when I swallowed, I could feel it dig into my skin for a couple seconds.

Vaz scrambled to her feet and took out her sword, but Faith just laughed. "Take one step towards me and he dies," she said. She had such a coldness in her eyes that I shivered.

"I am Luke Jackson," I said, wincing as the point scraped against my throat as I talked. "I am the son of Percy and Annabeth Jackson, I promise!"

"Wrong answer," Faith growled. Her breath smelled like grains. "I'm going to be generous and give you one more chance! _Who are you?_"

"I'm Luke!" I cried. "Luke! LUKE JACKSON!"

There was a cruel smile and a blurred motion as she drew her arm back to kill me. I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for death.

"Oomph!" The presence over me was suddenly gone, I opened one eye to find Vaz and Faith wrestling on the ground. This time, I would not helplessly watch. I threw myself in the middle of the scuffle, and together Vaz and I managed to pin Faith's hands behind her back.

She was frothing and spitting and rearing like a wild animal. It took all of my strength to hold her down, and I only had one arm.

"What's. Wrong. With. You?!" Vaz was obviously having equal troubles.

"I will avenge my parents! The PoP hasn't caught me yet and they certainly won't now!" she was spouting nonsense.

"What's the PoP? We have no idea what you're talking about!" I yelled at her.

She didn't respond. Five minutes later she stopped squirming, pure hatred in her eyes. "Kill me," she said. "Just get it over with."

"We're not going to kill you! We have no idea what you're talking about! Faith, live up to your name for a second," I said. And then I did something pretty dang risky; I let her go.

Without me, there was no way Vaz was going to be able to hold her down. Faith easily overpowered her and stood, huffing and panting and… shaking? What the…. She was crying!

"You're not the PoP… they wouldn't have let me go," she gasped. "I'm so sorry… so sorry…"

"Hey, it's okay" I hurried to comfort her. "It's not your fault. You've obviously been through a lot. Who are these PoP people?"

Faith sunk to the forest floor, still crying. I couldn't believe how vulnerable she looked. "The PoP are the people who… I was… it's a long story."

"I feel like you owe us at least somewhat of an explanation," Vaz snarled, obviously not pleased with how the morning was going so far. I couldn't blame her, but she could give Faith a little slack.

I thought that would make Faith cry even harder, but instead it actually helped. She stopped crying and wiped her tears away with her hand, leaving little dirt smudges on her sunken cheeks. "You're right."

Vaz built a fire easily and we all sat around it, Vaz and I both staring at Faith expectantly. She seemed resigned to telling us what happened, which was good because at this point I was really curious.

"My parents were involved with an organization called Prey or Predator. That's what the PoP stands for. Anyway, you're not supposed to have kids when you're involved in it because they require your full attention, and some other reasons. The PoP is made up of monsters and mortals: demi gods are rarely allowed because they have too much godly blood, and the monsters can't control themselves. My Dad managed, though. Predator or Prey was founded by a Cyclops who started the belief that one can keep themselves from death by sending others to theirs. I suppose you could call it his sacrifice to Hades, in his opinion. He got a couple monsters invested, and then mortals. It's like a cult. They honestly believe that they will not die if they create death themselves. I don't know how or why; it seems pretty obvious that people die even if they kill people, but the Cyclops has gotten them all to think that they will never die now, as long as they keep murdering demi gods and others who support the gods. Zeus has kept it all on the down low because once again, the thinks he can handle it, so no one is supposed to know that it even exists. Back to my parents—they joined and then three years later had a little accident: me. I was born and they were immediately in trouble. You're not supposed to have kids because in a way, that's bringing _life _into the world rather than death, and that's obviously not what the Cyclops wants. He has a personal agenda of course, but no one is really sure what it is." Faith took a breath and started again. "I was born and of course that meant mom and dad had to die. _But,_ to stay alive, they promised to kill one hundred demi-gods in order to make up for the one life. They told they could name me. Just before they left on their 'mission,' they told him that they were loyal and had been for a long time. They gave him their word that the mission would be completed, and that he should have Faith. Two months later, they came back. I had stayed with another mortal family while they were gone, from what I've gathered, but I don't know who. Anyway, when they returned, they proudly boasted that they had killed all one hundred demi gods. The Cyclops had this huge party…. Again, this is all stuff that I have barely any knowledge of, as I was just a very tiny baby, so I don't know what information is true or not. So he had the party apparently and everyone was celebrating. But the Cyclops had an oracle of sorts, and she told him that my parents had only killed ninety eight demi gods, and that they had lied to him. You can imagine his fury. They were cast out of the group, but when my mother reached for me, the Cyclops would not relinquish me back into her arms... 'You told me to have Faith,' he said. 'And that is the name I have given your daughter.' Mom screamed and cried but Dad just led her away. Skipping ahead a year, my parents managed to steal me back. I remember growing up in a little, one room house. Dad worked as a restaurant manager and Mom was a teacher. I grew up like that until I was ten years old, when I answered the door and…" Faith shuddered. "_He _was there. He tried to take me, but my parents were in the house. She came running with the kitchen knives, but they obviously weren't any good. I watched as the Cyclops… he… he killed her on the spot. Dad had his bow and arrows, but he was out of practice and missed. The Cyclops killed him too, but before he could grab my arm, I was blessed by Apollo. He stated that no monster could lay a hand on me as long as that Cyclops was alive. The Cyclops was obviously furious, and… he cursed me. I ran; I've been running for five years."

I stared. How could someone survive all of that? This Prey or Predator organization thing sounds exactly like what we're heading too, however, and so it was good to know the backstory… in a way.

"Hasn't anyone in that organization died before, though?" I asked incredulously. It just seemed highly unlikely that during the entire time, not one person had died in combat or something.

"Of course they have!" Faith nodded. "But the Cyclops is tricky. He just tells his followers that the person was punished for not being good enough to serve f Hades. It's like Dionysius and his little fan club, except much, much worse."

Vaz finally spoke. "So the bow we have must belong to one of the members of PoP. But why would they be after us? _Why would they capture Percy and Annabeth?" _

Faith laughed bitterly. "They often tried to infiltrate Camp Half-Blood; they just need to murder to be good servants of Hades, but demi-god blood is a bonus. Now that the defenses are down, I'm not surprised that they were looking for some stupid campers to go out of camp obviously unqualified. That's where you entered, Luke!"

I hated how she didn't mention Vaz, and I hated that I saw her point.

"As to Percy and Annabeth… well, I have no idea. But imagine the prize! Imagine how much Hades would love them if they sacrificed none other than the heroes of basically the entire world? And are you certain that they were responsible for their kidnapping anyway? The attack on you and the attack on them could be a completely different story altogether."

She had a point. "Well, I guess we'll just have to find out when we get there," I said, more determined than ever. I was already mad, but now that I heard what had been happening for so long, I was downright furious. Poor Faith… her name was such an irony.

"Are you going to tell us about the curse?" Vaz asked, and I gave her my best glare. It was obviously a subject that Faith didn't want to go into.

"I…no."

And that was the end of that.

"Well, we'd better be going," Vaz stood, stretched, and walked towards the tree where our packs were laying. "Nice meeting you, kind of."

"Oh no, I'm coming with you now that I know that PoP is involved," Faith rose to her feet and stared Vaz down. "You couldn't handle them without me, anyway. I've scouted them out a couple of times to find out more about my past. I know their patterns."

I was all for the idea. "The more the merrier!"

"That is _so _not true," Vaz argued.

"Okay, how about, the more people you have the more people will help Luke here not get turned into monster chow?" Faith smiled like it was funny, and Vaz grinned too.

"Hey!" I protested.

But the girls had seemed to come to a silent agreement over keeping me safe. In a way, it was flattering. It was also down right humiliating.

"I bet I can save his life way more than you can," Vaz said as we all started walking/jogging, me in the front with the psycho bow pulling me.

"Pft, not a chance."

"I bet I can live through this entire ordeal without having anyone save my life!" I piped in, trying to make them stop.

They both looked at each other and laughed. Maybe letting Faith come was a mistake after all…

**Okay, so I know that Faith's story was ridiculously long. I couldn't think of a way to sum it up. BUT you still haven't learned about the curse yet. Don't worry, that will come up. Let me know what you think about the characters! It's going to get interesting next chapter (if this chapter wasn't interesting enough for you :P) **


	6. Chapter 6

**WOW YOU GUYS! I got so much attention on this, how could I NOT update fast? You guys are amazing!**

**ARandomFangirler: XD I know, Jade comes off as somewhat of a princess, but maybe you'll like her in later chapters… *evil laughter* I'm glad you like the OCs, I usually don't like using so many of them, but it's a little hard not to do in a next generation fanfiction :P Hopefully she's not TOO much like Annabeth, but I guess we'll find out. **

**Royalrandoms4969: Aww, thanks for all the awesome comments. I'm glad you like the story, and yes, you're not wrong, it is DEFINITELY more than a little dramatic :3. Mmm, I've never thought about using a baby seal face before. And you don't think it was contact lenses? The force is strong with this one ;) Well, you're close, anyway. :3 You'll find out a little more in this chapter, but still not all of it. **

**Gaming Waterbottle: Thank you so much! That is like, one of the best things you can tell a writer : ) I'm just happy to be writing. I hope you like the chapter!**

**PJOHOOKCFAN: I'm ecstatic you're so excited about it X3 Well, I'm going to try to update at least weekly, but end of the year exams are coming up, so who knows how much time I'm going to be needing to cram for those :P. BUT as you can see, it kind of depends on how much you guys want me to update, and I figure that out with reviews. ;) **

**ON TO THE STORY. AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!**

I was exhausted. We had to have been running for at least an hour, it felt like.

"Can we take a break?" I wheezed, the bow still going crazy on my arm.

"He's not used to all of this exercise," Vaz told Faith, smirking. I narrowed my eyes at her, but I was too out of breath to say something back.

We all came to a halt and sat at the side of the road. I sat down and was dragged five feet by the possessed weapon. Vaz grabbed my arm and Faith grabbed onto hers, and we all came to a stop. I noticed the two girls were barely breathing hard, and the front of my t-shirt was soaked with sweat. I probably smelled like the guy locker room, but neither of the girls said anything, thank the gods.

"This is going to get old, very fast," Faith said, gesturing at the bow. She used the hand that wasn't anchoring down Vaz to reach into her pack and grab a rope about ten foot long. With a fluid movement that I couldn't even catch, she tied one end of the rope to the bow and the other to her bag.

"Your bag is not heavy enough to keep this thing from flying off," Vaz said skeptically, and I couldn't help but agree with her.

"Just let go," Faith dared us.

I was game. With slight hesitation, I released my death grip on the wood, and Vaz followed suit. It was obvious that he bow was putting up reasonable resistance, but Faith's bag stayed put like it weighted two tons,. It didn't even budge.

"It's enchanted," Faith grinned. "It's carrying probably about five hundred pounds worth of different camping and survival equipment.

"That's perfect!" I rubbed my arm, which was somewhat sore from all the tugging. "I wish we had a way for either of you to touch it."

"I can touch it," Faith said, confused. She pressed her hand straight up on the wood, but something strange happened. When my hand was holding the bow, the shadow material stuff retreated back. Now that Faith was touching it, it did the exact opposite. Delicate wisps of black crept up her hand and onto her arm.

We were all entranced.

The black made its way up her arm; suddenly, her whole arm was covered by shadows. They started to vibrate… it was like watching a cat purr, except it was a black mass that was making her eyes shake.

"What's happening?!" Vaz finally yelled. Faith didn't respond, she only stared at her arm. It hit me like a punch in the stomach; she was staring in terror.

For once, _I _was the fasted moving person in the group. I yanked the bow so hard from her that she cried out. The shadows screeched and there was a blinding flash… and then everything was quiet.

When my eyes opened, I looked around and assessed the damage. Vaz looked like she had landed _right _on her bad shoulder, what with the expression on her face. Faith was lying on the ground as well, but her eyes were closed and she was obviously unconscious. Where the shadows had been was a long, looping black line. It wandered up to her shoulder and ended at the tip of her index finger.

"That's kind of like the mark it left on my sword," Vaz said through clenched teeth. I hadn't even thought about that…

"Do you want some ambrosia?" I asked her, noting her discomfort. We had both come to a silent agreement to leave Faith alone for the moment.

"No, I'll just sit here in agonizing pain while I bleed to death from my reopened would. Please, go on staring at the unmoving chick."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Maybe I will."

"Just get your pack, stupid."

That nickname was getting really old, really fast. I did what she asked, though, and soon she had her ambrosia. At this point, I was ready to wake Faith up. I wondered if the black, tattoo –like mark on her arm would cause any pain or something. It was all my fault. If I hadn't said what I did…

I felt worse than I had ever felt in…. since I was abandoned at that ridiculous school. The ground started rumbling out of nowhere. Great, just what we needed.

"What's happening?" Vaz sat up, clearly alarmed. The ambrosia had obviously patched her back up.

"Don't you think we've dealt with enough today?" I screamed at the sky. The shaking only got worse.

"Earthquake? Really?" the daughter of Hecate hurried to her feet. Together, we dragged Faith to a spot where we had no danger of being squashed by falling trees. The quake lasted for a couple of minutes, but then it stopped, and I was relieved to see that Faith was coming to.

"Eh?" she said. Very articulate.

"Sh, don't move too much," I said. Vaz seemed just as concerned as I was for once.

"What happened? Why do I feel... strange?" Faith reached up her right arm to scratch her head. She saw the strange markings and immediately let out a yell.

"It's okay, it's just a mark. It's fine!" Vaz put her hand on Faith's shoulder to calm her down. "Do you need some ambrosia?"

Faith looked like something had drained all of the blood from her body. She was chalk white, and laying limply on the ground like a wet piece of paper. Her eyes were too big for her face; she had seen so much in her life already…

"What is it?" I urged .It was obvious that the black wasn't 'just a mark' after all.

"The Cyclops… he had the exact same thing on his arm," Faith whispered. She traced the swirling pattern down her arm.

Vaz and I stared. So that had done _something,_ but no one apparently knew exactly what. I seriously hoped it wasn't anything bad. Judging by what happened in her childhood, wither her parents and the curse, she obviously didn't need anything else on her plate. It just wouldn't be fair.

"I'm going to get her some ambrosia," Vaz said, taking some from her pocket and looking at me. "Maybe it will help with the shock. Make sure that none of our stuff got squashed by the earthquake."

We had left our packs behind when we were dragging Faith. I prayed hard to the gods for them to be okay, but once again they let me down. A weak oak about the size of two of me and seven feet around, already worn out, had come crashing where we had left the stuff. I groaned loudly.

Vaz came by. "Hey, did you get the… oh."

With her help, I managed to roll the trunk off of our packs. The water bottles were split open and spilled onto the ground. I dug around the bag and groaned again. The jelly jar had smashed open, as had the peanut butter, pickles, and basically everything in a container. In my nonfood pouch, the small tent I had packed was broken beyond repair. The flashlight was in pieces, and basically nothing survived.

We salvaged the meat, cheese, tortillas, and a couple of other things, but the majority of our supplies were ruined. I gagged when I spotted the bread; it floated in a miserable pool of mixed-food liquid at the bottom of my backpack. There was no use in taking it with me now.

Vaz's bag managed to procure a little more food that was saved, but other than that, it was in an equal state. I made sure to save the ambrosia; the squares were mashed to bits, but it still had its healing qualities so there was no way we were leaving that behind.

"What's going on?" Faith had gotten up and walked over to where we were. She assessed the situation within one second and her face fell. "Oh."

"Looks like we're going to be needing to get to where we're going faster than we thought," was all she said. She seemed to have dropped the whole shadow mark thing, but she had her left hand covering it almost protectively.

"Yeah, like tomorrow," Vaz grumbled. "We barely have enough food to scrape along for three days."

It was true, and it hit me hard. All I wanted was to get my parents back home, be accepted in my family, make my sister happy, and solve every problem that I've ever come across basically. Would it really hurt for the gods to actually help me out for once?

_Have hope_.

"What. Was. That?" Faith apparently had heard it too.

"Mom," Vaz said, and for once her smile wasn't sarcastic. "She's helping somehow."

I stretched my arms out towards the mess. "Really? It doesn't seem like it."

Faith and I shared a look, and it became clear that she agreed with me. The gods were obviously either not watching or not caring; probably both. Vaz's mom might've "given us her blessing" or whatever, but some good that had done is so far.

"Face it," Faith turned to Hecate's daughter. "We are _not _getting any help from the gods."

"Someone call for a ride?" a new voice said. We all turned around and gasped; it was… was that…

"What? Has no one ever seen a healing god before?" Apollo himself was grinning at us, leaning on a beautiful looking Chevrolet that was… smoking.

**I was interrupted, sorry guys :/ I will try to update again fast. Let me know what you think of the chapter. Trust me, it won't seem like a bunch of a garbled mess soon. :P Sorry it's like that now. **


	7. Chapter 7

**I am so so so so so sorry. There has been a lot going on, but I'll skip the excuses. Hope this chapter was worth the wait; I did clear **_**some **_**things up. **

**StephLopez: Thank you! I'm so glad I have your support : ) **

**NoodlePoodle: Aw, thank you so much! And yes, the cover picture has been changed. The original certainly didn't match the story at all. **

"A-apollo?" Faith was the first one to speak. She was staring wide-eyed at his car like it was a god in itself.

"Hey, Faith. How's your curse doing? Ah, I see you got a little darkness there," he gestured casually to the tattoo-like symbol on her arm. "Be careful with that."

Vaz was the first one who really came to her senses. "Um, excuse me. Not that you're not welcome, but, uh, _what are you doing here_?"

He laughed. "Well, I heard that you guys needed a ride."

"A ride to where?! We don't even know where we're going!"

Another chuckle. I wanted to say something too, but I was a bit distracted with the smoking vehicle, the shiny teeth, and the fact that there was a freaking god right in front of me. I mean, I had seen Grandpa a couple times and, I think once, I was able to see Zeus. But it had been so long that I couldn't seem to tear my gaze from him.

"What do you mean darkness?" Faith finally spoke, her voice a little more shaky then usual. She was touching it again, her fingertips trailing along the blackness with the same delicacy that one might use while petting a dog. It was kind of creeping me out, to be honest.

Apollo shook his head, still smiling. "You'll find out more about that later. That's not, ah, what do they say… my cup of tea?" A shake of the head. "Well, I suppose it is, but I think it's in everyone's best interest if we hush that up for a little while. I'm not here as a doctor. I'm here as a friend."

Faith had the nerve to roll her eyes. "A friend, eh? That's a bit hard to believe."

"Shut up, Faith," Vaz's tone was like a blade; sharp and dangerous. I resisted the urge to take a step back when I saw the fire in her eyes. She glared at Apollo as if he was a younger sibling, and not one of the most powerful forces on the earth. "I'm going to ask you one more time. Where are you taking us?"

There was a scary glitter to his eyes now, and my gut was telling me to run. Instead of going with instinct, I moved so that I was shielding Faith. When I glanced over, I saw she was shaking. Her head was nodded to her chin, and her fists were clenching and unclenching.

"I'm going to take you to a place where you might learn some information."

I opened my mouth to say something, but naturally, it was too late. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly we were in the back of… was this a school bus? I almost threw up when I looked out the window. We were so high up, everything looked like little specks.

"You look a little green there," a voice beside me said weakly. "Are you okay?"

I turned, to find Faith shrunk up against her seat, knees up and hands tightly intertwined. Her knuckles were white, but they didn't compare to her face, which was a flattering shade of paste.

"I think the real question is, are _you _okay?" I moved a little to the left so she could have more space. Not only would it hopefully make her more comfortable, but if she threw up I wouldn't be in the splash zone.

She didn't even try to smile. "Claustrophobia. Closed space. No exits. I'll…" she swallowed thickly. "Be fine."

"Of course she will."

I glanced to across the seat and found Vaz spread out on her own bus seat, looking quite comfy. She had her hands behind her head and her feet up on the seat beside her, as if this was some luxury cruise. The fact that she could sound so casual in a situation like this irked me for some reason.

"Apollo's being kind of quiet," I leaned over and said lowly, hoping the god couldn't hear me. "What do you think he has up his sleeve? I'm not sure I like the looks of this."

She shrugged. "Not much you can do about it. What are you going to do, jump?" She laughed, but her eyes didn't change. "That would _really _make you stupid."

"Urgh…" Faith was clutching her stomach. For both our sakes, I got up and slid myself next to Vaz, pushing her feet off the leather and making room. She gave me a dirty look, but didn't protest.

"What do you think he meant by information? Do you think he's leading us to my parents? Or is this just some game to him and the rest of the gods."

Vaz became indignant. "Hey, my mom is helping us along the way, and clearly Apollo wants to help. I say we give him a shot. He _is _Faith's grandfather. Maybe that'll give us some credit."

I snorted. "Oh yeah, because the gods care _so _much about their relatives."

"Oh go away; I don't need your negativity on my side of the bus," Vaz glared at me, using her boot to push me off the seat with an 'Oof.'

"All hands on deck!" a cheery voice came from the front. "And Luke, I would feel a lot better if you would apologize for all those mean things you were saying!" I could almost hear the pout in his voice. "I'm just trying to help."

I didn't dignify that with a response. "Are we almost to… wherever you're taking us?"

"You got it, kid. Try to hang on to something, okay? This might be a bit of a jolt."

I barely had enough time to make it back to my seat with Faith, when the bus made a sudden jerky movement, and then started to plummet as if it was made of lead. I tried to yell, but when I opened my mouth, nothing would come out. My eyes flitted to Faith, who looked terrified, and then to Vaz, who looked bored. I clutched the material under me with all my strength, closed my eyes, and prayed to Zeus that he wouldn't let his crazy son crash me into the ground.

And then, stillness.

When I opened my eyes, the brightness to the bus was gone; it was obviously not magical anymore. Apollo had disappeared, and Vaz was already on her feet, peering cautiously out of her window.

We were in some kind of forest-y area, but much more marshy then the one we had met Faith in. There was moss hanging from branches, grass and bushes scattering across the dirt, and the constant sound of animals coming from outside. I was almost afraid to open the door.

"Wait, did he leave his chariot with us?" I tilted my head.

"No," Vaz sounded fed up. "He switched it out. He landed, gave us this old thing, and took his chariot back to the sky. Would've been a lot nicer of him to leave it, though." She winked at me, and suddenly I was glad he had taken his power with him. The image of Vaz, controlling a god-powered vehicle in the sky, made me shiver.

Faith still had her eyes closed when I glanced over, and I tapped her gently on the shoulder to try to get her to open them. When she did, she cursed.

"We're still in this death cage?" she gestured, sounding a lot more strong then she had when we were in the air. It was obvious that the tight space still grinded on her nerves, but she seemed to feel better now that we weren't in the air.

"Feel free to get out," Vaz gestured to the door. I saw a challenge in her eyes; she wanted to see if Faith was brave enough to go first.

None of us knew where we were, or what we were doing, or what we were _supposed _to do, but none of us brought it up. Faith steeled herself, stood, and marched out the door, with Vaz behind. Sighing, I followed. Personally, I kind of liked the death cage. Whatever was out there… well, I felt safer knowing that there was a barrier between us.

Now there was nothing. We took a step out of the bus and was hit full on with the smell of fresh, mountain air. I could taste the mist on my tongue, and my eyes stung from how clear it was. I was surprised; in the book I had read about areas like this the air was thick, but I couldn't get enough. I had never _tasted _oxygen like I did now.

"Do you have your pack?" Vaz turned to Faith. Oh, I hadn't thought about that.

"Yeah." Thank the gods. "Apollo put all your guys' stuff in here too, and the bow…"

"The bow?" I stepped forward and, sure enough, there it was. "Don't take it out. Not now. I have a bad feeling…"

Suddenly, something came stomping through the underbrush towards us, making almost more racket than a bear. I pulled out my dagger, Faith knocked an arrow to her own bow, and Vaz pulled out her sword. We must've looked like a pretty scraggly team, but I pushed that out of my mind.

A figure appeared. A knife, glinting, was in our opponents hand.

"Calm down," a voice soothed. "Put your weapons at your feet and no one has to get hurt."

"Who are you?" Vaz demanded, not backing down. I was surprised at the ferocity in her voice.

Laughter. Gods, I was so tired of people _laughing _today. "Does that concern you?" The voice was smooth, silky, and very persuasive. It was obviously a male voice, with no sign of a tremor. "No it does not. Put your weapons at your feet and no one has to get hurt."

Faith was apparently done with this guy; she let an arrow fly. It hit him dead on… but suddenly all that was there was a shadow. The voice was suddenly right in my ear, and a blade was putting pressure between my shoulder blades.

"Should I say it again?" he asked pleasantly, his breath tickling my ear. "Put your weapons at your feet and no one has to get hurt."

"Shadow travel," Vaz growled, slowly bending as if to put her sword at her feet. "Be on guard."

"Now!" Faith shouted.

Somehow, I understood, and put as much distance as I could between me and the stranger by somersaulting forwards and turning to see what I could do. Vaz was in a serious fight with him, but was quickly having to fall into defense. Faith seemed to see what was happening, and skirted around to his blind side with an arrow in hand. When she raised it to strike, he turned and jabbed at her stomach. My mouth went dry.

Instead of him gutting her in front of me, Vaz crumpled to the ground behind him, crying out. In a moment of confusion, Faith managed to wedge the point of her arrow into his side. He made an inhumane hissing sound and disappeared into the shadows.

At once, I was at Vaz's side. "Vaz…what happened? What just happened?" I was in shock. She shook her head and clutched at her stomach. When I moved her hand, a blood stain was rapidly appearing.

Faith sprang into action, kneeling beside the other girl and barking orders. "Get the ambrosia from my pack, Luke. Vaz, I'm going to need you to stay conscious. Keep your heart flowing, okay? I'm going to put some pressure on the wound. This might hurt a little. No, no, stay with me. Where's all that stuff about staying tough? You don't want to look bad in front of stupid here. Okay, you're going to be fine."

My hands couldn't stop shaking, and I felt like it was taking forever for me to grapple with the ambrosia pack and get one out. I moved as quickly as I could, and stuffed one in Vaz's mouth. Her eyes were hazy.

"Okay, Luke, I'm going to need you to take over," Faith, sounding very calm and reassuring, pressed my hand to Vaz's stomach, and I shut my eyes at the sticky feeling of blood. I applied the amount of pressure that Faith instructed me, and she hurried to her bag to get something else. When her hand emerged, she was holding a bottle full of strange white powder. She took a pinch, moved my hand again, and sprinkled it over the wound.

"Ungh," Vaz groaned. I hurried to reapply pressure, but Faith grabbed my hand and gave me a warning look.  
"Wait," was all she would say. "It's magic."

Sure enough, the blood flow slowed, and then stopped. Her shirt was definitely ruined, and she had now definitely passed out. There wasn't much Faith and I could do about that now, so I decided to ask her a couple of questions that I had a sneaking suspicion she had the answers too.

"What just happened? Why was Vaz hurt when the creep stabbed _you_?"

Faith looked away. When she looked back, I gasped; her eye color had changed. Instead of purple, it was a shocking blue. "I told you about my curse, right?" she said with her gaze elsewhere. I could tell she was not as calm as she was letting on.

"Yeah."

When she finally looked at me again, there were fractures in her eyes, like they were twin cracked glass windows. Shattered beyond repair. She had to swallow before she spoke, and her voice came out strange… deeper, maybe. "When Apollo declared no monster would touch me, the Cyclops used his darkness to curse me. The wound that would be normally inflicted on me is diverted to the person closest to me; this is why I travel alone. I am doomed…to be alone…"

And she trailed off, muttering things in a strange language while stroking her arm. Dark fell, but she continued to do that long into the night. I listened to her until I fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey fabulous people who made it to chapter 8! I felt the need to keep updating super fast until I can prove to you guys (and myself) that I really do want to finish this Fanfiction. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think with a review, if it's not too much trouble. I am always open to constructive criticism… and I'm thinking about bringing either Dawn or Matthew into the next chapter. Do you think I should do it? IF so, which one? Let me know! Thanks guys! **

The next morning when I woke up, both girls were gone. It took me a couple seconds to process that information, and then I was on my feet, heart pumping and eyes darting. Where could they have possibly gone? Did they leave, or was it an ambush? Did it have to do with the creepy guy who had attacked us yesterday?

My question was answered when I heard laughter, carried to me by the slight breeze and blending in brightly with the leaves and greens around me. I could tell it was Vaz, but that was strange. I hadn't heard her laugh throughout this whole journey.

"…and that was the last time I ever tried bathing in _that_ lake," Faith was saying when they appeared into the clearing. Vaz's sword was in her hand, and Faith, I noticed, was missing a couple arrows.

I interrupted the light atmosphere with a scowl. "Where were you two?"

They shrugged in unison.

"We were fighting off a monster attack," Faith was the one to respond. She shrugged her bag from her shoulders and pulled out some more arrows to restock. "We had to let you get your rest. Looked like you were pretty relaxed."

"I don't think Apollo brought us here to vacation," Vaz said, giving me a sideways look. "There's something about this place; I can't put my finger on it. It's some kind of enchantment."

"I don't feel anything," Faith frowned, taking out some of the few supplies we had salvaged yesterday.

"It's a Hecate thing, maybe," I suggested, trying to at least contribute somehow. I acted like I didn't care, but the fact that they left me here while they went to fight… it kind of hurt. I knew that I probably wouldn't be of any use to them, and that was probably why, but I hated feeling like I was a deadweight. A handicap.

"That makes sense," Faith nodded thoughtfully. She still had her bag open, and I walked over to see what she was looking at. It was the stupid bow again; the bow that kept getting us into trouble.

"I wonder…" Vaz trailed off, her eyes going wide. I felt something graze the small of my back, and my stomach became stone.

"You have the bow," the guy from yesterday was right behind me, talking right into my ear. I resisted the urge to pull away.

"_We _have the bow," Faith took two large strides so that she was standing next to Vaz, the bag (with the bow) clutched tightly in one hand, her own bow in the other.

"And _I _have your little friend here." he shook me by the arm a little, and I felt cold metal cut through my shirt and whisper past my bare skin. "I think you'd fancy a trade, no?"

"No." There was ice in Vaz's eyes. "We would not fancy a trade. Take him, I don't care."

"Don't play coy with me, Miss Rickie. Your father wouldn't like that tone."

She stumbled back. "M-my f-f-father?"

I could _hear _the smirk in his voice. "Why of course! We have him back at camp! Would you like to see him?"

She was speechless, but so were the rest of us. Whatever was happening was not good; Vaz had been seriously caught off guard. Someone needed to say something, quick.

"I would rather die than let you have our only lead!" I exclaimed loudly. Ha, that was a lie, but it drew his attention. When he turned me around to face him, his knife cut a very small scratch into my back. I didn't flinch, but I could feel it starting to bleed.

"I can see the fear in your eyes," he whispered inches from my face, eyes sparkling with twisted mirth.

"Your breath smells like cinnamon…and…evil," I said. Wow, nice insult Jackson. Thankfully, Faith saved me from his response.

"Let Luke go, or tell us what you want with this!" she held up his target, but it didn't appear to be tugging away, which was curious.

"To return it to its master, of course!" he laughed, letting go of me. I still didn't dare budge. The point of his knife had returned to my back, and I had a feeling that if I tried to run, I wouldn't make it even a step before he skewered me.

"Who is it's master?"

"You know the answer to _that_ question!" he smiled at her expectantly, as if they were playing a game of trivia for elementary school kids.

She looked away. Great, he had both of the cool, sassy girls out of commission. They knew how to talk to these dangerous bad guys, and the greatest thing I could come up with had to do with cinnamon. We were so doomed.

"Are you a son of Hades?" I tried to distract him, my mind whirling. We had to get rid of this guy for good, or he would keep coming back.

He spat on the ground, startling me. When he looked up, I could tell I had hit a sore spot. "I'm not a son, I'm a decedent. I would never have made it into PoP as a child of a god. The last person who did that… well, I suppose you know what happened to him."

When he smiled in Faith's direction, something came over me. I don't know what, but a boiling rage washed over my whole being. I saw red, I felt the blood surging through my body, and suddenly, the whole earth was shaking. A crack formed in the dirt, zigzagging between me and the bad guy besides me. He shifted to shadow, but flickered back, as if his shadow traveling attempt had failed.

"Luke! Run!" Faith ran forward and jerked me by my t-shirt collar, effectively distancing me from the growing hazard in the ground. The crack was now at least a foot across, and our attacker was clearly weakened after trying to shadow travel. He stumbled, and fell. A couple more seconds and he would fall in.

Against my better judgement, I tugged away from Faith and hurried forwards, taking him by the hand. He raised his knife as if to stab me as I saved him, but it fell limply to his side. His eyelids fluttered, and then he was unconscious.

My adrenaline slowed, and the earth stilled. I was still shaking, though, as I pulled his relaxed form as far away from the gap in the ground as possible. It was about five feet wide now, and it scared me. A lot.

"Did he do that?" Faith gestured towards the chasm, wide-eyed.

I shook my head. "Why would he? He tried to escape it, but... I don't think he _could_."

Vaz was at the edge of it now, looking down. She looked terrible, with dirt smudges, crazy hair, and blood all over her clothes. At a closer look, I saw that her eyes were shining with unshed tears, and at that moment, I felt like I should _do _something; maybe embrace her, maybe just reassure her with my words. She looked so dismal that I wondered what was wrong. And then I remembered that he had mentioned her father.

I could no longer stand. The sudden burst of adrenaline I had experienced was long forgotten, and my legs felt like jelly. I stumbled to the ground, and, with the last bits of energy I had, positioned myself so I was sitting on the dirt and facing our attacker.

Faith came and sat next to me, but didn't say anything. We both stared at the stranger, and I couldn't help but think he looked very peaceful now, with his dark brown hair covering his closed eyes, and his mouth slightly open. Little huffs of air disrupted the dirt below, and I wanted to laugh when some of it blew into his nose, causing it to wrinkle.

"I'm glad that Stabby here isn't awake," I broke the silence, nudging his hand with my foot.

"Stabby?" Faith fought back a grin.

"Don't judge me," I stuck my tongue out. "I bet it's better than any name he actually has."

I thought she'd laugh again, but her expression shifted into an unreadable one. "Why did you save him, anyway? He attacked us. He was going to _kill _you. You realize that, right Luke? He was going to take his blade, and…"

I held up my hand, signaling her to stop. "Hold up, I don't need to hear the rest of that sentence. I know what he was going to do."

She tilted her head, her newly blue eyes piercing into me. "So _why_?"

"Do you really think he deserved to die?" I nodded my head in the direction of the crack, where Vaz was still standing. "That was going to be his tomb, Faith. He would be dead."

She looked away, and I felt the burden of her gaze lift. "He's obviously a son of a kind of monster. He would've come back."

"You don't know that," I shrugged. "He's also part Hades somehow. Who knows, he could be a normal teenager just like us!"

Stabby shifted, his eyes still closed. His head was now resting on my foot, and I had to sit really still so as not to disturb him. He seemed so… normal now. There was no hissing or abnormal pleasantness or creepy shadow manipulation. He was just sleeping, and it looked like he needed it too.

"He's not like us," Faith spoke finally, and I could tell she was talking through gritted teeth. "He's one of _them_. The PoP. Luke, those aren't 'normal teenagers.' Those are cold-blooded killers."

"But we don't know if he's killed anyone. All we know, is that he came for the bow." I gestured towards the bag that was clutched in Vaz's hands.

Faith bit her lip and peered around me, her eyebrows suddenly scrunched together. "You're bleeding."

"I know. His knife grazed me, but it's no big deal."

She looked furious suddenly. "You could bleed to death! You should've told me so I could've bandaged it sooner!"

I didn't think it was a big deal, but she apparently thought so. With lightning speed, she jumped to her feet, ran to Vaz, got her bag, and returned to my side. As she pressed a disinfectant into my wound, I was reminded of how malnourished she was. Her fingers were thin and frail, but definitely practiced. She managed to apply alcohol, cotton, and a band aid to the scratch in under a minute, her hands deftly switching between materials.

She had just closed her bag when quiet voice spoke from behind us. "He should've died."

We both looked back, and Vaz—though it hadn't seemed possible—had edged even closer to the edge of the chasm without falling in. A couple tears had created tracks of dirt on her cheeks.

"No," I said firmly.

It scared me that both girls, who seemed so light and cheery, didn't think it was a big deal for this guy to kick the bucket. How many deaths had they seen in their life times? I knew having godly blood was a curse, but I had no idea what it did to people. To me, this guy hadn't done anything too bad (yet). I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, but they didn't seem to understand.

I wondered if Vaz was going to bring up her father. All I was ever told was that he left when she was little, but there was obviously more than that. What had the guy meant when he mentioned her dad? He sounded like he knew him, but maybe I had misunderstood. Either way, there was no way we could give up now. There was something serious going on, and I wanted to find out _what_. It was driving me crazy, all these different puzzle pieces. None of them seemed to fit together, but I had a feeling I didn't have all the facts yet.

No one was moving still. The area wasn't quiet; there were distant sounds of animals and Zeus knows what else coming from every direction. We were all still, each in our own world of thought. Faith was back to tracing the pattern on her arm, that strange, dazed look in her eyes. Vaz was leaning over the crack in the earth, seemingly analyzing it's depth. There was Stabby, who had yet to wake, and me, who was too busy looking at everyone else to wonder what I was personally thinking. It was all very peaceful, yet there was an uneasy tinge to the air. I wondered if it was the same thing Vaz had been sensing earlier: the enchantment. I wondered if the PoP was near, and what Stabby would do when he woke up. I wondered why my parents were gone. I wondered why Vaz's dad was recently brought into the picture and I wondered if Faith's curse could be undone. I wondered for what seemed like hours, and it was surprisingly Vaz who jerked me out of my musings.

"Let's go," was all she said. I nodded and stood. 

It was time to stop wondering, and start putting the puzzle together.


	9. Chapter 9

**I know it's been a while, but I really wanna get back into this Fanfiction. I will try to update at least once a week for sure :) **

**Guest: **Here you go, a chapter just for you! ;) Thank you for being the only person who reviewed, it really meant a lot and it definitely got me back to writing this Fanfiction!

"Are you sure it was a good idea to leave Stabby behind us without tying him down or something?" Faith was jogging beside me, sweat starting to shine on her forehead. We had been on the move for about four hours now, and I was getting to the point where I was ready to collapse.

Vaz hung back a little bit. She had a determined look on her face, but I could see in her eyes something different. Something had changed, and I had a feeling it had to do with her dad. Stupid Stabby.

I tried to respond to Faith, the words coming in between pants. "I think…so. No good….other option…oh my gods please can we take a break?"

Faith put her hand on my shoulder and we slowed to a stop together. Vaz, who apparently wasn't paying attention, crashed into us from behind. With an 'oomf,' we all sprawled out on the ground, dog pile style. I was on the bottom of course, being squished.

"Sorry," the daughter of Hecate said emotionlessly, rising to her feet and helping Faith and I do the same. "I was thinking."

"You don't…" Faith paused. "You don't think he was really being honest about your dad, right? I mean, he could've been saying a whole bunch of things."

"It's not that simple," Vaz replied, still seeming emotionless. "I think he's telling the truth."

I was stunned by how cold she looked. Faith didn't seem to want to ask any more questions, but I had some of my own to direct at _her_. What had Stabby meant when he said that she knew the owner of the bow? Did she really? And if she did, why wouldn't she have told us, anyway?

My fists clenched. I couldn't let some scrawny guy with cinnamon breath mess up the whole quest with a few well placed words.

"We gotta get our head in the game, guys," I said as we all stood in a circle, facing each other. "If we don't focus, we're going to get ourselves killed. I don't know about you, but I wasn't planning on dying anytime soon. I have a lot more to do."

"He's right," Faith nodded. "Let's forget about Stabby for now and focus on why Apollo would leave us here, anyway. He said that we would find some answers."

Vaz shook her head as if to clear it from whatever thoughts she had been brooding on. "He was acting like the PoP camp wasn't far off. Maybe he dropped us right into the lion's den."

I shuddered. "Faith. You said you would know their patterns. Does a forest seem like a place where they would camp?"

"It's not the terrain that they care about," she shrugged. "They like to be near big cities though. Does anyone have any idea where we are?"

"Nope," Vaz shook her head. It struck me that we could be in another country for all we knew.

"So the plan is… wander around until we _hopefully _find a giant encampment of monsters who probably want to rip us to shreds?"

Both girls looked at me with identical twisted smiles. "Yep."

"Lovely."

And so we were back at it again, jogging at a semi quick pace through the leaves and brush. I knew we should be making a bunch of noise, but for some reason, even the dry twigs being trampled under our feet were quiet. Was this Hecate helping again?

The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up suddenly. The girls seemed to feel the same unease, and we all quietly slowed to a stop once again. No one said a word.

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Faith knock an arrow to her bow. Vaz drew her sword. Gulping, I took out my own knife, feeling small and helpless next to the two experienced girls beside me.

A bush moved to my left, and Faith let two arrows fly before I had time to blink.

"Now, now," a familiar voice sighed. It seemed to be coming from all around us. "Don't be like that."

"Luke, you _really _should've just let him fall," Vaz growled at me. We all recognized Stabby's velvet tone.

"Ah, but I'm here because he let me live." The scrawny boy vaporized five feet in front of me, hands in the air as a sign of surrender.

Faith didn't seem to care, and sent another arrow zipping his way. I swear I saw him roll his eyes before he vanished and reappeared, letting the point zip through where he once was.

"Let him talk," I found myself saying in a firm voice. To my surprise, both girls lowered their weapons.

The air seemed to sizzle with tension. I waited for Stabby to offer an explanation, knife still grasped firmly in my hand. For some reason, I felt secure.

"I am an asset to the PoP," Stabby started. He leaned against a tree while he talked, peering delicately at his fingernails. "They hired me to track you down."

"Track us down? I thought you wanted the bow," Vaz scowled.

"Well yes," he smiled, showing perfect white teeth. "They want the bow back, as well. But they also want Luke, here," he gestured to me airily. "I'm sure Chiron told you about the prophecy."

My expression must've said everything, because he laughed. "Ah, or perhaps he didn't. I assumed that such an important one would've been passed on, but I forgot that they have been trying to keep you out of the loop for years. You mean so much to your parents, that they doomed you trying to protect you."

"Stop speaking in riddles," Faith growled. I saw her eyes flicker… since when had they been green?

"They aren't riddles, silly," he continued to grin. "Have faith."

"Stop antagonizing us and tell us why you're here," I took a step forward towards him, not sure if it was a brave move or a stupid one. "Just get to the point."

"I'm here to help!" he spread his hands out in front of him. "When little Luke here saved my life, I realized that meant that I owe him. I hate being in debt, you see. So I'm going to do your little group a favor."

"As if we'll accept your help," Vaz scoffed. "You were going to _stab _Luke."

"Don't be so naive, I was merely using trade tactics. I wouldn't really stab him. Not when he has such an important role to play."

More riddles. I was getting more and more fed up with this guy as he talked. Despite appearing our age, he talked to us as if we were children. Then again, I was desperate to find Mom and Dad. But was I really desperate enough to take the help of someone this shady?

I made up my mind. "Guys, I think we should let him help."

"Are you crazy?" Faith said from behind me. "He's a snake."

"Guilty as charged," Stabby smirked.

"What other choice do we have? We have no other leads, and we don't know how much time we have. There is no prophecy to guide us. Stabby here is our only shot."

"Stabby?" Stabby shook his head. "You people have no sense of originality."

Vaz ignored him. "Luke, do you know what you're risking here? He could just be tricking us. He could lead us right into a trap."

"She's right. I don't think we should accept his help," Faith frowned. "If he could just leave us alone, that would be enough for me."

"He could tell us more about Mom and Dad," I protested. At this point, we were all ignoring Stabby. "Or he could tell us about the owner of the bow. Or the prophecy. Or where the PoP is."

"But he's a _bad guy_, Luke. Lesson one in demi-god training; don't trust the bad guys!"

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm not a demi-god," I scowled at Vaz. "I'm just a descendant. And I want answers."


	10. Chapter 10

Both girls looked at each other unhappily. I knew they hated the idea of taking a risk with this guy, but I was tired of wandering around aimlessly.

"If this is a trap and we all end up dead," Vaz finally said, scowling, "I'm _so_ going to kill you."

I looked to Faith to see if she would try to stop me again, but she wouldn't meet my eye. She stroked the black mark on her arm and bit her lower lip as if she was fighting back a protest.

"Very well," Stabby smiled. He sat down suddenly, legs crossed, and gestured for us to do the same. "I am glad that you are allowing me to repay my debt."

"Whatever, just get to the part where you're useful," Vaz muttered.

"As you know," he started, still grinning widely. "I am in contact with the PoP. I regret to say that I have already informed them of your location, so your cover has been blown. Telling you this is help in itself, but I'm going to do a little bit more."

My hands started shaking. The PoP knew where we were? Were they on their way right now? I swallowed dryly and tried to pay attention, but I felt light headed. If we were caught off guard, we would be doomed.

"Your friend there has a little mark on her arm," Stabby nodded his head at Faith, who hastily tried to cover it up. "I'm assuming she touched the bow."

"Now you see," he continued as we all sat in tense silence, "the bow was a gift to a descendent of Hades long, long ago. It returns to its owner as soon as the owner notices it's missing. The tricky thing about the bow is… well, the child of Hades used it once to save the life of a old man who was meant to die. Furious, Hades cursed the bow and hid it, thinking that was a solution."

"Hades cursed the bow?" I cut in. "So does that explain why some people can't touch it?"

Stabby licked his lips. "In a way. Any direct child of a god is not allowed to make contact with its wood. The problem was, the bow always returns to its master. So the bow returned to the child of Hades, but obviously, contact with a demi-god is painful. Hades' child tried to keep the bow away after learning its curse, and eventually tried to bury it in the sand. That night, it escaped its confinements and attached itself to him while he was sleeping. He died."

"How?" I gaped.

"If you touch it for even a mere second, it burns you. Overexposure… let's just say it doesn't end well," Stabby shrugged nonchalantly.

"How does this information help us, though?" Vaz scowled. I could tell she was on the edge too after hearing that the PoP knew our location. What if he was just stalling until they arrived?

"Patience, daughter of Hecate." He shook his head. "I'll never finish my story if all of you keep interrupting."

"Sorry. Continue," I said hurriedly. I wanted him to get to the point as fast as possible. Also, I wanted to spare him from the snappy comeback Vaz undoubtedly was about to say.

"The bow was now without an owner, so it did not move. Decades later, it was discovered by a mortal. Obviously they had no idea the power they were wielding. One of their friends, however, was a descendant of Hermes, and could sense the magical energy, so he tried to take it. He succeeded, but the bow was angry at being taken away from it's master. It marked him, much like it marked your friend over there."

"What does the mark mean?" Faith whispered, looking strangely calm.

Stabby tilted his head at her. "Do you really want to know, descendant of Apollo?"

She looked away. I wanted to comfort her, but there was nothing I could say. Stabby still hadn't said anything useful, and for all we know, the PoP could be getting closer by the second. Part of me wanted to forget the whole thing and keep running with the girls. The other half was determined to learn _something _more.

Vaz was feeling the same way. "If you don't hurry up and get to a point... "

"I'm getting there," Stabby raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "The one who is marked becomes the new master of the bow if the bow is not returned to its master in the next three days."

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked.

He smiled. "Depends on your perspective. The bow is a powerful weapon and an invaluable asset. It has more magical qualities than you think, when used correctly. However, don't forget that the bow is cursed. That curse does more than keep godly children away from it; it seeks out those with godly blood."

My mouth went dry. "Are you saying that it targets demi-gods?"

"It shoots where you aim," was all Stabby would say.

Faith suddenly shot to her feet, face pale. "We need to get out of here."

"Huh?" Vaz tilted her head, and her eyes widened. "Oh my gods, Luke, we need to run."

Stabby just sat there and smiled, and suddenly I knew what was upsetting them. In the distance, the sound of trampling brush and shouts was growing louder. We had been discovered.

Vaz and I were on our feet now, too. We had two options; flee, or stand and fight. From the sounds of it, there were at least 20 enemies incoming. That meant, if my math was right, each of us would have to fight around six to seven people, unless Stabby decided to jump into the fray and do some damage. At this point, I wasn't sure if he would help us or hurt us.

"Luke, we gotta _run_," there was a new urgency to Vaz's voice now. I knew she was right. We wouldn't stand a chance.

"See you soon," Stabby waved casually, before vaporizing into shadow. I didn't have time to think about what that meant, because a second later, Faith and Vaz were both dragging me into the forest.

The three of us broke into a sprint. Vaz was in front, then Faith, and then, of course, me in the back, already panting heavily. Five minutes later and the only thing keeping me alive was adrenaline. Despite our efforts, however, the noise was only growing louder.

As we fled, the foliage had grown thicker around us. Soon I could barely see Faith in front of me. I felt like we needed to tie ropes around our waists or something so that no one would get lost, but we didn't have time. There was hardly any sunlight filtering through to the forest ground; the dim lighting made the setting seem even more ominous.

"Keep up, stupid!" Vaz scolded from the front. I was falling behind; the lack of oxygen was getting to me. I moved my legs as fast as I could and did my best to ignore the burning. After ten more minutes, I was done. My vision was red and tears were streaming down my face. My legs refused to cooperate and I fell, choking on what little air I could inhale.

The girls noticed and stopped. I could tell they were exasperated, and wanted to apologize, but I couldn't speak. My breaths came out in wheezes.

"He can't run any further," Faith said, looking at Vaz. I wanted to roll my eyes. _No duh. _

"Well _they _aren't stopping," Vaz said grimly, nodding to the direction the sounds were coming from. They were getting closer.

"We can't just leave him behind."

"True."

Faith took out her bow and notched an arrow. "So we fight."

"No." Vaz shook her head, putting a hand on Faith's arm. "There's no way we can win this one."

There was silence, except for the sounds of my lungs collapsing. I felt like dying, but in more ways than one. Why was I always the handicap? Zeus knows how many times I had been a dead weight. I wanted more than anything to just do something helpful for once.

I clenched my fists and prayed harder than I ever had before. I prayed to every god I could think of that we would make it out of the mess. And, as if by a miracle, it seemed like they responded.

The ground started rumbling in the distance. We could hear screams and then the sound of hasty retreating. Had there been another earthquake?

"What… just happened?" Faith asked, arrow still notched.

"Since when have we had so many earthquakes?" Vaz shook her head. I saw the start of a smile forming on her face.

I sent a silent thank you to the sky and took my first deep breath in what felt like days. "We're safe. For now, anyway."

"Do you think Stabby is going to make a habit of appearing and making a ruckus?" Vaz looked around as if he was there, watching.

She had a point. He had shadow travelled into our business one too many times. If he kept doing it, we'd never get anything done. It was only by dumb luck that we had managed to escape him so far. I remembered his last words to me. _See you soon. _That couldn't have meant anything good. But I looked at Faith and Vaz and saw genuine concern in their eyes, and decided it was best to play stupid.

"He's probably tired of us," I said, rising to my feet and wincing at my jello legs. "I saved his life last time he tried to steal the bow. That's gotta count for something."

"But he 'repaid' his debt by telling us more about the bow, remember?" Vaz replied.

"Nah," I waved a hand around. "We're good."

I was lying through my teeth and I think we all knew it, but no one said anything more on the subject. I looked around and realized that we were very lost, very alone, and without a clue on what to do next.

"I think we should've given Stabby the bow," Faith said suddenly after a minute of silence.

"That bow is our only lead," Vaz argued. "If we gave it up, we'd have nothing to figure out where the PoP is. Why would you want to do that?"

Faith brushed a finger over the black that had crept up her arm in a swirl pattern. "I don't want to be its new master."

That's right! I had forgotten about that. If we didn't track the PoP down soon enough, the bow would accept Faith as its master and stop leading us. She seemed to know more than we did, however. I tried to meet her eyes and she looked down, kicking the dirt.

I tried to think of the right way to word my question. "Faith… when Stabby said that you knew the owner of the bow…"

"He was lying," she cut me off, emerald eyes cold. "I know nothing."

Vaz attempted to help. "We're not pressuring you, but it might be helpful if you have any information we don't already know."

"I know nothing," Faith repeated, sounding less sure.

She was lying. It was obvious. But once again, none of us decided to address it. There seemed to be silent consensus that some things didn't need to be talked about… yet. We were just standing there quietly, staring at eachother. Vaz suddenly turned and pointed to me.

"You!" she said, sounding angry. "Why wouldn't the bow have chosen you when you touched it?"

"I…" I tried to think of a good answer, but she had a point. Why would it not burn me, but not 'choose' me, either?

"I have a history with the PoP. Do you think it could sense that?" Faith proposed, still speaking in a weird, quiet voice.

"Even if it could, I don't think that's it," Vaz mused. "It had other owners who weren't in the PoP. Why would it start selecting people based on that?"

"The PoP have an unnatural attachment to Hades. The bow is a weapon of Hades. Her theory makes sense to me," I shrugged.

"No, it's something else." Vaz started pacing. "I just know it."

"Does it matter?" I asked, suddenly anxious. "We have a timeline now. If we don't hurry up and get to the owner of the bow, we'll never find them. Mom and Dad could be in huge trouble right now and we're just standing around."

Both girls looked at me, and I could tell they were thinking the same thing: _You're the reason we stopped in the first place._

I shut up. They were right.

"Let's get moving, then," Faith finally said. And so we did.

**Alright guys! Let me know what you thought of the chapter! I'm always open to feedback. Let me know how you like the characters and if you have any ideas for the next chapter or what you think might happen ;) Toodles! **


	11. Chapter 11

Welcome… to Chapter 11 *evil laughter* I didn't forget; I said I'd try to do an update a week and I'm going to do my best to uphold that.

Kitty: Gee, thanks so much! That means a lot! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! :)

The bow was pulling less hard than it had before, and I think every single one of us noticed. Instead of having to run, a fast walk was plenty fast to keep up with it. Faith was holding it (I might've been a little scared after Stabby's story) and I could tell she would've loved to snap it in half.

"What's the plan when we actually find the owner, anyway," Vaz prompted.

"We question them about Mom and Dad," I said firmly. "If they refuse to cooperate, we use force."

"Luke, whoever owns this bow is probably much more skilled than the three of us combined." Faith shook her head. "If we try a full frontal attack, there's no way we'd have an advantage."

"So how do you guys think this is going to work?" I scowled. As much as I hated to admit it, they were right. I hadn't thought my idea through very well. We couldn't just approach this dude and demand answers. Chances are, he was the one who had shot at Vaz and I before. It wasn't like he was going to welcome us with open arms.

"We have leverage," Vaz replied, gesturing at the bow. "Faith will keep an arrow knocked on her own bow, Luke will hold it, I'll draw my sword, and we'll ask for a trade. The bow for answers. If they attack, we run."

"Run?"

"Yes Luke," Faith turned to me, appearing concerned. "Do not, I repeat, do not approach him."

She sounded an awful lot like she knew who she was talking about. It made me wary-if she knew something that we didn't, why wouldn't she tell us? Her history with the PoP was bloody and brutal, but what if she still had ties with them? I traded looks with Vaz and I could tell she was thinking the same thing. Maybe that's why she wanted me to hold the bow when we met up with the mysterious archer.

"You don't trust me," the descendent of Apollo stated after a moment of silence. "I understand."

"But-" I started to protest.

"You guys are right. I do know something. But I'm not sure if it's true and if it isn't, I don't want to be wrong. You get it?"

Vaz's expression hardened. "If you know something, tell us. If you MIGHT know something, tell us. Whatever information you're harboring could be useful later on."

"You'll find out in due time. Let's just say the owner of this bow and I have a bit of a connection, if he's who I think he is."

My mind whirled. Connection? Was he a relative? An old friend? An old boyfriend? Nah, something about Faith told me she would sooner skewer a boy through the chest than hold his hand. But that left the other two options… and was the connection just surface level? Or did she have any emotional connections? Oh my gods, if I didn't start getting answers, my head was going to explode. It felt like every moment of our journey, the whole situation got more and more confusing. What started out as a quest to find Mom and Dad turned into a spaghetti mess of magical weapons and dark pasts. Maybe being a demi-god isn't all I thought it was cracked up to be.

I thought about Stabby. I acted like he wasn't a threat to the girls, but a part of me was extremely worried that he might come back. Even though he had given us some useful information, he was still the enemy, and needed to be treated as such. I wondered if the girls still felt like I should've let him fall and die.

My mouth went dry. For some reason, I thought of Jade. Was this the world she had grown up in? While I was off stuffing cheerios in my mouth and learning how to color, was she learning how to hold a sword and where to hit different monsters? Part of me still despised her, but the longer I spent time with Vaz and Faith, the more I realized how difficult it was to live as a god's child. I wondered if she had had a birthday party after everything that had happened. I wondered if she was upset when they found out I was missing (and her best friend). I wondered if she would care if I never came back.

"Luke! Ow!"

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled. Without paying attention, I had accidentally run right into Vaz. She gave me a dirty look before turning back around.

"You guys are amazing," I said out of nowhere. Both of them stopped to turn and look at me incredulously.

"Did you hit your head or something?" Vaz joked.

"No," I continued earnestly, "but I mean, seriously. Fighting off monsters all the time and living without knowing when your next battle will be but still enjoying life and laughing and smiling… I don't know how you demi-gods do it."

"Practice." Faith shrugged, but I could see a little smile tugging at her lips. The bow was tugging on her arm still, but she ignored it. It struck me how green her eyes were… when had they changed from purple?

A strange sound came from our left, and I felt a huge rush of adrenaline. Before I could get a sense of my bearings, I had already pulled out my blade and was in a fighting stance. When my vision cleared, both girls were gaping at me.

"That was just the wind, Luke," Vaz said, but she wasn't making fun of me. Her eyes were wide.

"What?!" I asked.

"That was the fastest I've ever seen you move," she replied. "You're improving, stupid."

For some reason, the mixed compliment made a warmth spread from my chest. I couldn't stop the grin on my face. "You really think so?"

"Definitely," Faith nodded, responding for her. She looked down at my blade. "What do you call your knife, by the way? Every weapon deserves a name."

I almost didn't tell them, but then I caved. "I named my knife Cheese, because so far that's all I've used it for."

"Cheese." Vaz nodded. "A fitting name."

They both were holding in laughter, but I didn't care. The atmosphere felt the most relaxed since Vaz and I had come across Faith, and it was nice to pretend like we were just three normal teenagers for once. I put Cheese away and tried to enjoy the moment while it lasted.

"Shouldn't we keep going?" Faith said after a couple of seconds.

"Yep. Onward and upward, boys." Vaz smiled.

So onward and upward we went.

Thank you SO SO SO much for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this latest chapter. I know it wasn't as exciting as some of the other ones... please feel free to give whatever feedback you can, and let me know what you think of the characters. I'm always looking for ways to improve my OCs :)


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